Playing House with Malfoy
by DMlover8
Summary: Hermione and Draco get partnered up in a Muggle Studies project about parenting, when something horrible goes wrong and their project becomes more involved then either of them bargained for.
1. Chapter 1: Muggle Studies

Chapter One: Muggle Studies_  
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_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Harry Potter books or movies or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione rushed down the corridor, wanting to get to her first class. She knew that she was 20 minutes early, but she didn't care. She just wanted to get there and make sure she got a good seat, and set up all her books and supplies so she would be ready when the professor walked in.

It felt so good to be in the halls of Hogwarts again. She forgot how much she missed the sounds of students milling about the corridors, the long hallways lined with stone and lit with torches, and the smell of musty old books in the library. She loved the smooth well-worn wood in the tables and desks that have been used by many students before them.

Yes she was happy to be back in school and get back into her usual routine. Hanging out in the Great Hall with Harry, Ron and Ginny as well as the other Gryffindor's and spend hours upon hours studying in the library when she wasn't in class.

She was returning to complete her schooling along with several other students from her year. She was already far ahead in her class, so she only had to take a few more classes to complete her schooling. Fortunately for her, she had already taken and passed all of her core classes and all she had left were electives. This meant she got to choose what she wanted to take. Unlike Harry and Ron who still had to take Advanced Herbology and Advanced Transfiguration.

She was only required to choose three electives to take her final year, but three classes wasn't enough and she wanted to take more. And besides she had enough spare time, so why not? Harry and Ron of course thought that she was mad for wanting to take more classes than necessary. You would think after seven years of knowing each other they would back off and let her do her own thing. They just didn't understand her passion to learn.

The electives they wanted to take were flying and quidditch, which she personally had no interest in either…she had a thing with heights. Since Harry and Ron still had core classes to take and they choose to do the two electives she didn't want to participate in, it meant they wouldn't be in any classes together. Which was a bit strange and sad, since from day one they've been in the same classes and now they weren't, especially in their last year.

But on the bright side, it was probably a good thing and she'll be able to concentrate better instead of sharing her notes with Harry or constantly fighting off Ron's persistent pestering with him trying to convince her to write his term papers for him. Yes, being in separate classes this year will definitely be a good thing indeed.

She got to her first class and walked into the room. Of course she was the first one there, which was no surprised; it just meant she could get her choice of seat. She didn't want to sit in front and seem too eager, but she didn't want to sit too far back either, because then she might not be able to see everything the professor writes on the board or hear everything they say.

She picked out a seat that was in the second row, right in the center of the classroom. She sat down and put her book bag on the floor and started taking out her books, parchment and quills. Shortly other students started coming in, claiming their seats.

This class was a new course added to the curriculum, only offered to 7th years, but not required, like the core classes were. It was supposed to be a class on Muggle Studies of the 21st Century. Harry and Ron gave her hell when they found out she was taking a class on Muggle Studies, because she was a muggle born and should already know everything there is to know about muggles. But she was interested in finding out what they taught in this course and what the wizard's perspective was on muggles…a nonjudgmental perspective.

She glanced at her watch, only a couple minutes before class started. Most of the seats in the classroom were filled up and only two empty seats remained, one of them was next to her and the other was in the front row. She made a quick glance around the room; she recognized most of the students but didn't know them personally. Any second now the professor should be walking in.

The professor teaching this class was supposed to be someone new and Hermione was anxious to meet her. Just as she suspected a short, surprisingly young woman walked in and set her articles on the desk in the front of the classroom next to the chalk board. She had fire red hair, with big lavender eyes, and wore bright green leggings with a blue tunic-like dress. She wore pink lace fingerless gloves on each hand and to top it all off wore bright yellow sneakers on her feet. The woman literally looked like a rainbow had thrown up all over her. It was almost difficult to look directly at her, her outfit was so bright.

She went about pulling various books and things out of her bag but still didn't address the class. She walked over to the chalkboard in the room and began to write her name. Harriet Candlewick.

A door opened and closed in the back of the class. Professor Candlewick didn't turn around from the chalkboard as she addressed the late comer. Hermione didn't bother to look back at who came in, instead had her quill ready, prepared to take notes.

"Mr. Malfoy, you're late. Please find a seat so we can begin."

Malfoy? Hermione thought. Why would he take a class on Muggle Studies? She heard a rumor that he was severely behind in his studies, but surely he would have taken something different then Muggle Studies? She sighed, so much for having an easy class with no distractions.

There were only two seats left in the classroom. Surely he would see her and decide to take the one in the front row, instead of the one next to her. Unfortunately that was not the case; she didn't need to look to see that he plopped down his leather book bag next to hers on the ground and sat in the desk about two feet away from hers. She ignored him and continued to stare straight ahead, ready for Professor Candlewick to start class.

"Now that everyone is here. I like to say welcome." Professor Candlewick turned towards the class, clasping her hands together, making the bangles on her wrists jingle.

Her voice was high pitched and a bit squeaky, reminding Hermione of a pixie…or a squirrel.

"My name is Harriet Candlewick, but you can call me Harriet. I'm not formal here so there is no need to call me Professor Candlewick or even Mrs. Candlewick, just Harriet is perfectly acceptable to me."

She didn't want them to call her professor? Hermione's never had to call a teacher by their first name, it just seemed to causal. And for some reason that didn't sit well with her. But she supposed it would be okay since the prof…uh Harriet looked more like a student then a teacher.

"First things first. You all signed up for Muggle Studies in the 21st Century, yes?" all the students nodded.

"Excellent, however you should know, there has been a slight change in the curriculum. Instead of Muggle Studies in the 21st Century in general. I thought it was necessary to narrow it down to something a bit more specific."

A slight panic rose up in Hermione's chest. How could she change the curriculum? She already studied ahead of time with the assigned books for Muggle Studies in the 21st Century. How could she change it without letting us know ahead of time, before we signed up for the class?

"Marriage and Family in the 21st Century, is what we'll be learning in this class. And not to worry I've already cleared it with the headmaster and she loved the idea, since this will be something that you can apply in your everyday life once you leave the walls of Hogwarts."

Hermione heard Malfoy mutter a curse, but she ignored him. Marriage and family? That didn't seem too bad, she probably wouldn't have taken this course if she knew that this was what they would be learning but since she was already signed up for it she might as well stay.

Hermione looked around the room, most of the girls didn't seem to mind but the boys seemed to be mumbling angrily to each other.

"In this class we will be talking about the joy of what it's like to become a parent and how to find your life mate and how to treat your spouse with love, care and respect. As well as learning about marriage and family life in other culture around the world."

More grumbling came from the boys. Hermione could see Malfoy hunch down lower in his seat, scowling at the teacher from the corner of her eye. She hoped this wasn't going to be a class where the teacher made them carry around an egg or a sack of flour and pretend it's a baby for the rest of the term. Surely they wouldn't do something like that at Hogwarts? She remembered her cousin Lisa had to do that once in her muggle school and her partner accidentally dropped their egg and broke it causing them both to fail the class.

Hermione loved hands on projects, but she didn't want to have to waste her energy taking care of a fake baby when she could be learning how to brew potions that could help cure deadly diseases or something equally exciting.

"Does anyone have any questions or concerns about this change in class?" Harriet asked.

"Is it too late to drop out and switch classes?" one of the boys in back called out.

"No your class schedules are already finalized, so you may not drop out or switch this class with another."

Hermione raised her hand. "Since we're no longer focusing on Muggle Studies in the 21st Century, do we need to get new books? Or are we still going to use the one's already assigned to us?"

Malfoy cursed under his breath once again.

"No need Ms. Granger, we won't be using any of the assigned books for this course, so you might as well go ahead and put them away. In this class I will provide all of the information you will be needing to learn and all that there is that I have to teach. I believe in a hands-on teaching method, nothing you can learn in life comes from books, the way to learn is experience."

What the bloody hell was she going on about? You can learn so many things from books and literature, that's the whole reason they exist in the first place.

"Any other questions before I get started?" No one spoke up. "Excellent, well I suppose we should get started on your projects for this term. I'm going to go around the room and pair everyone up in groups of two. The person who I partner you up with will be your class partner for the remainder of the term. Once I have everyone partnered up I will pass out instructions for your first assignment."

Candlewick started pairing everyone up, starting off from the back. Hermione couldn't help but notice each pair was grouped boy/girl. The number of people who still needed to be paired up was growing shorter and shorter. And then there were only four people left. Susan Clubburd and Thomas Mchunger, and Hermione and Malfoy.

"Next will be Susan with Thomas."

Hermione could see Malfoy tense up knowing the same thing she knew. They were the last two people left who haven't been paired up.

"Last but not least, Hermione and Drac…"

"Professor I really don't think that's a good idea. I can't work with Malfoy, it would be a disaster. Please I'll work with anyone else, just not Malfoy." Hermione hated that she sounded like she was begging in front of Malfoy of all things.

"She's right I can't possibly be expected to work with Granger. I refuse to do this project with her."

"Oh you two don't be silly. I've took careful consideration when choosing who should be paired with whom. And you two are the most compatible with each other. We'll see how well you work together on this first assignment, and if you still can't get along then I will choose new partners for you." Candlewick turned and walked back to the front of the classroom, clearly the case was closed.

Hermione turned to Malfoy to glare at him, he was already sneering in her direction.

"I swear to God Malfoy if you screw this up for me I will make your life a living hell." She gritted through her teeth.

"Right back at-yah Princess." He said with venom dripping from his voice, and then turned back towards the front of the class.

She couldn't concentrate on what the assignment was; she was too busy thinking about how awful it was going to be to work with Malfoy.

"Some important things to know about this class, is that you will be expected to spend at least two hours each day outside of class to work on your project with your assigned partner. I've gone over all of your individual class schedules and came up with workable timeslots for each pair to work, without disrupting your other classes."

"You can't do that, what happens when we get assigned an emergency quidditch practice at last minute or something? You can't expect us to work on our class project during all of our free time."

"Yes, I understand your concerns. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do when I was a student was work on school work during my downtime. If anyone has any problems concerning the time or any conflicts with extracurricular activities then they may come see me and we'll work out a more acceptable time that works better for you and your partner. This class is worth six credit hours instead of your traditional four, and the extra two hours are what I'm calling lab hours, which is when you'll come here during your assigned timeslot I give you for additional time to work on your projects that you can't do when in class. This was all explained in the curriculum when you signed up for this class. These lab hours will work just as normal classroom hours, you will sign in to get participation points and I'll be checking in on you during your work time to see if you have any questions and problems concerning your individual projects." She grabbed a stack of packets and passed them out. "Here is the times you and your partners will meet each day and you will report here to work on your project. Unless I tell you otherwise." She handed a packet to Malfoy and then one to Hermione.

"In these packets will be a list of ingredients you and your partner will need to collect to brew a special potion, that will be used to create your projects. Each group has a different list of ingredients and potions, so there is no excuse for anyone to cheat or ask help from a different group. This is a group project, as I've said. If you need help ask your partner. This project is to improve your teamwork sills. You and your partner will need to learn to trust and respect each other. And when you do so, you will succeed. Each partner needs to participate in this project, which is why it is called a group project. If one person does all the work and the other doesn't, then your grade will reflected that. And we all want to pass with high marks, don't we?"

Malfoy looked over at Hermione and sneered at her, she glared back at him. This class was going to be pure hell with Malfoy.

"Each of your potions will take roughly 2 to 3 days to brew and then once your potion is brewed to perfection, you will receive further instructions from me. Now unless anyone has any questions that will be all for today. Don't forget to meet here tomorrow during your assigned timeslot with your partner to start working on your projects."

Hermione was so busy looking over the ingredients that she and Malfoy needed to collect for their potion, that she didn't even get to ask what their project even was. All she knew was that they had to brew a potion that was going to take at least 2 to 3 days to make.

When the professor dismissed the class, Malfoy was already up and leaving the room. He better be there tomorrow at…she looked at her packet, 6:00pm, which meant after dinner. Great that was her favorite time to study in the library, now she had to spend it with Malfoy instead. This project just kept getting better and better, she thought bitterly as she gathered her own books and left the classroom.

The rest of the day went on smoothly with professors giving out normal homework assignments and not vague group projects. Unfortunately Hermione found herself having three other classes with Malfoy. Luckily he choose to sit in the back with other Slytherins and left her alone. He never came up to her and asked about their project, not that she expected or wanted him to, but she wanted to make sure he collected his half of the ingredients that he was assigned to and bring them tomorrow. She was not going to fail because he didn't do his share of the work.

Draco didn't want to come back this year, but it was either come back or stay home with his manic depressed father watching his every move with a disappointed look in his eyes. Of course coming back to school meant he had to make up twice the amount of classes, since he practically failed most of his classes his 6th year. He had other important things to consider back then like trying to stay alive.

The headmaster told him he needed to pass all of his classes this year in order to graduate with the rest of his class. If he didn't then he would have to stay another year and graduate with the 6th years, which he had no desire to do. He didn't even bother signing up for classes this year, he just told the headmaster to put him in whatever and make sure they were enough to ensure that he graduated on time. Which is how he got stuck in a stupid class like Muggle Studies and now finds out it's going to be some lame class on parenting or some such nonsense. And to top it off he's partners with Granger, and has to work on the project alone with her for two hours every day.

He grimaced, just thinking about being in the same room with her was making his stomach turn. At least she didn't have her two bosom buddies, Potter and Weasel following her around like puppy dogs in class. It was most likely his fault, that he got partnered with her, he shouldn't have sat next to her in class. He didn't like that the professor singled him out in class when he came in late, so he took the first seat he saw. It was only after he sat down that he noticed Granger sitting next to him.

He had three other classes with her during the day and he made sure to sit as far away as possible from her in case some of the other professors got an idea to partner them up together as well. The less he spent in the company of Granger the better.

The next day she was eating dinner in the Great Hall with Ron and Harry. They were both going on about the upcoming Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw quidditch match that was going on tomorrow, and how they were convinced Gryffindor was going to win because they had a new strategy. Hermione was only half listening to them yammer on about it, nodding at the appropriate moments and what not. She was more concerned about her first project meeting with Malfoy. Will he even show up? He never once came up to her to discuss how they were going to make this work. And there was no way she was going to confront him especially when he was surrounded by all his Slytherin cronies.

She was losing her appetite and just ended up pushing her food around her plate more than anything. She almost felt nervous about their meeting. Was Prof…Harriet going to be there to observe them...and make sure they don't kill each other? Was he going to make her do all the work? Probably, she thought grimly.

"Hermione?"

She looked up from her plate, "hmmm?"

"I asked if you were going to the library to study after dinner. I really need you help on my transfigurations homework." Ron asked her.

"Uh, no. Actually I have a muggle studies project I'm working on with my partner. We're supposed to meet at 6:00pm."

"Where?"

"In the Muggle Studies classroom."

"When will you be done? I really need your help, Hermione."

She let out a sigh. "I don't know Ronald! We have to work on our project for at least two hours and I still have all of my other homework that I have to complete before tomorrow. I don't know if I'll have any time tonight."

"Okay, fine. I'll try to do it myself." Ron grumbled impatiently.

She left the Great Hall 10 minutes early. She was anxious and being pestered by Ron and Harry to help them with their homework was getting on her last nerve. And frankly she just wanted to get this stupid project done and out of the way.

Hermione got to the classroom and of course was the first one there. The room was dark, so she flicked her wand and the room lit up. She set her book bag on one of the empty tables and pulled the packet out that the professor gave them and went over it one last time before getting the ingredients out that she collected. She wasn't sure if she should wait for Malfoy to arrive before getting the cauldron setup or go ahead and take care of it. She decided to wait and just organize all the ingredients into the order that they needed to be brewed in.

Two minutes after six o'clock the door opened. Just when she thought he wouldn't show, he came.

"Glad you could make it." Hermione said sarcastically to Malfoy as he set his book bag on a table.

"Let's just get this over with Granger."

"Fine by me." She rolled her eyes and tried to ignore him as she turned and continued to take inventory of the ingredients they needed.

Hermione spun around about to ask him to add his ingredients when she noticed Draco standing next to her arms full of what he was supposed to gather. Her eyes darken in annoyance. He didn't say anything so she spoke up first.

"Right there is fine." She said shortly pointing to the table.

Without speaking he set his ingredients next to hers in a neat pile. "What is this stupid potion we're making anyway?" he asked.

"I don't know, she never said. But I don't want to get a bad grade, so we're going to do what she says." She glanced at the packet for the directions as to how to start the brewing process.

"This is a complete waste of my time. And worse yet I have to do this with you of all people." Draco sneered.

"Yeah, well I'm not exactly jumping for joy either Malfoy." She muttered to herself as she went to the side of the room to get a cauldron so they could start brewing.

Normally in Potions the cauldrons were already set up on the tables, but since they weren't in a potion classroom, the cauldrons were stacked up along the wall. One thing about cauldrons, even small ones, is that they are much heavier then they look. She bent down and tried to life one off the ground. But she was having trouble getting a good grip on the handles.

"Do you need help with that?" Malfoy asked when he noticed Hermione struggling with the caldron.

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the table, smirking at her yet making no actual move to go over there and help her.

"Oh yes, Malfoy. Maybe you could give it a mean sneer and maybe it will carry itself across the room." Hermione sneered sarcastically. "No thanks."

"Whatever Granger." Draco said as he continued to pull out his ingredients from his book bag.

She reached for the cauldron again, hoisted it up in the air and lost her balance and the cauldron dropped with a loud clang. She got back up immediately ignoring Malfoy's obvious enjoyment over her struggle. Hermione was determine to move this cauldron by herself even if it was the only thing she got done for the night.

"Wait," Malfoy said as he walked up to her side. "Granger wait. Hold on, I just want to say something."

From the tone of his voice Hermione thought he was about to apologize or possibly help her. She stood up and waited. He stood very close to her, staring at her with unfamiliar intensity. Hermione's heart started to beat uncontrollably, and she willed it to stop.

As their eyes locked, he leaned in even closer. "Put your back into it and life from the legs." He whispered.

Hermione jerked away from him trying to control her temper as he spun around and walked back to the table. She took a deep breath and found out she was shaking, whether it was because she was so angry or if it was because of something else, she didn't know. Regardless she was not going to let someone like Draco Malfoy see how much he had affected her.

After bit of huffing and puffing she finally got the cauldron to the table. Ignoring Malfoy as much as possible. Now she wished that she should have went ahead and set up the cauldron before he arrived.

They silently began brewing their potion. For the first day they only had to add a couple of the ingredients into the potion and had to leave them to simmer for 24 hours. But first they had to bring the water up to a boil and add two sprigs of knotgrass and let them break up and separate in the hot water. Next was the armadillo bile, once that was added they had to let it sit for an hour stirring occasionally.

Malfoy apparently put Hermione in charge of the stirring for he plopped down in a chair and propped his feet on the table with his arms crossed over his chest and shut his eyes. She scowled at him, even though the task was simple and honestly she didn't mind doing it. It still made her blood boil when he decided to take a nap instead of work on their assignment.

The hour went by slowly. Hermione made sure to stir once every 5 minutes or so. She caught herself looking over at Malfoy more than once and each time she would turn away quickly annoyed with herself for looking in the first place.

At some point when Malfoy first walked into the classroom he took off his class robe and rolled up the sleeves of his white button-up school shirt. He took his tie off and had the top buttons undone, giving Hermione a glimpse of his collarbone and the top of his chest. She couldn't help but notice his arm muscles under his shirt as he crossed his arms. Since when did he become so built? Sure he played quidditch, but this was Malfoy who just looked tall and skinny, not…muscular. Or the fact that his hair was free of any hair product that she usually noticed he used. Instead it looked…soft. He grew it out a bit longer then he usually wore it, but not long enough that it looked unruly. A piece of it fell across his forehead and into his eyes and she inched to move it back and out of the way. He actually looked attractive… She turned away quickly.

What was she doing? She wasn't interested in guys, well okay she was, but she needed to focus on her schooling first and foremost. Then get a decent career and then she can start thinking about guys. And she definitely couldn't start thinking those things about Malfoy, because that was just absurd. She was only thinking those things because she was in close proximity to him and for once he wasn't making fun of her, or picking on her or insulting her or sneering at her…no he was sleeping.

"Are you going to keep staring at me Granger or get back to stirring?" He said eyes still closed.

Heat engulfed her face; she turned quickly back to the potion. How did he know she was looking at him? She cursed herself for becoming so easily distracted by him.

"Well this is a group project. Maybe you could help out a bit instead of sleeping."

"Help out with what? Taking turns stirring? This potion can easily be done by one person. I don't know why we both have to be here for this." She rolled her eyes at him when he went back to sleep.

The hour finally passed and she added the last ingredient for the day. Malfoy actually offered to help carry it over to set it by the other group's cauldrons so it could simmer overnight.

"I just don't want you to throw your back out or anything." Malfoy said in a fake innocent tone that had her gritting her teeth.

He walked up to the cauldron and pulled out his wand, gave it a flick and had the cauldron levitating within seconds. Hermione felt the color drain from her face. Of course, a levitating spell! How could she be so daft not to think of that earlier? Instead she made a fool of herself trying to prove she could carry it by herself.

Once Malfoy set it down gently next to the other cauldrons he turned to her and pretended to roll his shoulder, "Wow that was a lot heavier than I thought it would be. I don't know how you did it with your frail toothpick like arms." Draco gave his shoulder a good rub and faked a wince as if he was in pain, then smirked at her.

She gritted her teeth and glared at him in annoyance, then picked up her book bag with more force than necessary and stormed out of the room. She could hear Malfoy laughing at her all the way out the door. That insufferable git knew just how to push her buttons.

The next meeting went on about the same, with Hermione doing most of the work as Malfoy did as little as possible. Neither of them talked to each other. She still didn't have that faintest idea what kind of potion they were making and why it pertained to their class.

Professor Candlewick still hadn't shown up to check on them like she said she would, but that didn't really bother Hermione. She worked better without the constant supervision of a teacher. The day went faster than yesterday; mainly because they had to add more ingredients to the brew and watch it carefully to make sure they didn't over mix it or burn it.

They packed everything up and left. Hermione decided to head to the library. It was only eight o'clock and Madame Pince kept it open until 9pm on school nights. Hermione still needed to get her Arithmancy homework finished. And she rather do it in the peace and quiet of the library, instead of head back to the Gryffindor common room and have Ron pester her to help him with his homework.

Draco watched as Granger went inside the library. He shook his head, that girl spent too much energy in her school work. Whenever she wasn't in class, she was studying. He even noticed that sometimes during dinner in the Great Hall she would have her head stuck in some book. She needed to learn how to relax and not be so uptight. Not that he was volunteering to help her with that. No way. Spending two hours with her alone in an empty classroom was already messing with his head.

He was starting to notice things he didn't want to be noticing about her. Like yesterday when she was ridiculously trying to lift the cauldron by herself. He walked up to her just to mess with her and noticed when he got in really close she licked her lips, probably subconsciously and hitched in her breath. Or the fact that her hair smelled like jasmine, and when he was pretending to sleep all he could think about was how good she smelled. And when she was concentrating on something she would bite her bottom lip, making him wonder what else she could do with her lips. And he wanted so badly to take the clip that she used to tie her hair up in a tight know out and watch her hair fall down the back of her shoulders. Which was ridiculous because she had crazy, wild uncontrollable hair, why would he like it?

He took in great satisfaction that he caught her staring at him too. He smirked to himself. It was no mystery that most of the female population at Hogwarts thought that he was attractive. Wouldn't it just piss off Potter and Weasley if Granger became part of his little fan base. He walked towards the Slytherin common room, thankful that he only had to spend one more day with Granger working on their project.

On the final day of their potion brewing, Hermione walked into the classroom early as usual. She went ahead and set everything up and got out all of the ingredients that they had left to add. A quarter after six Draco finally walks in.

"You're late," She said not looking up at him from the cauldron.

"It's only been 15 minutes Granger. And it's not like the teacher even bothers to show up anyway to monitor our comings and goings. I could have probably not even shown up at all and she would have never known."

"Not when your grade is on the line, not to mention mine as well." Hermione said.

"Why are you even taking this class? It's not like you need it." He asked turning to face her.

She shrugged, "Why does it matter to you?"

He turned back to the table, "It doesn't."

"Then it's none of your business."

"Whatever Granger. Just tell me what I need to do so I can get out of here."

"Did you bring the rest of the ingredients we need to finish this?"

"Yeah I got everything except Chinese Chomping Cabbage."

She smirked at him. "I kind of expected that, so I went ahead and got some already."

He glared at her. "How did you get that? I've spent all day looking for that stuff."

Hermione gave him a bored look. "All you had to do was go to Professor Sprout and ask for some. Anyway I had some left over from a different project so I brought it along just in case."

He sneered, "I shouldn't be surprised you're always prepared. What's next?" He laid out all of the ingredients on the work table.

"Cut up the Chomping Cabbage, smash the fluxweed and squeeze the juice out of the flobberworms."

"Fine." He went about doing just that.

Hermione watched out of the corner of her eye. He was actually doing what she told him to do and didn't argue or try to make her do it. Not that she was complaining. He was standing next to her, close enough that she could smell whatever cologne he used. He smelled like the outdoors with a hint of spiciness. He was squeezing the juice out of the flobberworms which would have completely grossed her out but all she could focus on was how amazing he smelled. His hair fell into his eyes again and once again she wanted to reach out and move it out of the way. The cauldron started to boil which brought her back to the main focus. Which was getting this potion finished and not think about the way Malfoy looks or smells.

An hour later they added the last finishing touches on the potion until it turned a light lavender color. To her surprise it smelled like peppermint, even though they didn't add any peppermint to it. They turned the heat off to let it cool to room temperature.

Seconds later Professor Candlewick breezed into the classroom. Today she wore a bright orange outfit, paired with her fire red hair. It was difficult to look directly at her. Her voice rang out loud and clear making Hermione wish they could go to being silent.

"Ah, excellent you finished the potion." She clapped her hands together.

Draco was gathering his stuff getting ready to leave.

"Not so fast Mr. Malfoy, you still need to complete the second task before you can go on about your evening."

He set his book bag down with a thud. "And what is that supposed to be?"

Candlewick placed a single smooth rock down on the desk in front of them. "This here is your project."

"It's a rock." Draco said flatly.

"What does a rock have to do with the project?" Hermione asked the professor a bit more kindly then Malfoy did.

"This here won't be just any rock once you added it to the potion. The potion I had you brew is an animation potion. The potion will transform this 'rock' in a baby of sorts. Of course I can't use real babies, since that will be too much responsibility to put on students. But it will be just as fragile as a baby. Once the transformation takes place you will have to care for it as if it were real, you need to make sure it's fed, cleaned, and cared for. Fortunately you'll only have to care for it during class hours, outside of this class room it will change back into its rock like state. The potion you made will make it come alive and it will also tell how well you care for it, if you or your partner neglect it in any way I will be able to tell. And neglect is a form of child abuse, so this project is one to take seriously. The last step of your assignment tonight is that once the potion is cooled down completely you'll need to place your rock into the cauldron and repeat _vivo fetus enchante,_ three times and then let it sit overnight. Tomorrow in class your assignment will be to determine the sex of your rock baby and give it a name." Candlewick told them, she put a tentative hand to the side of their cauldron. "Your potion is still lukewarm, so you'll need to wait a few more minutes before you add your rock. Do either one of you have any questions before we part ways for the evening?" The professor asked them.

"What the bloody hell are you supposed to feed a rock?" Malfoy asked.

"Language Mr. Malfoy, two points from Slytherin." Draco scowled. "I'll go over all the essentials in class tomorrow. Remember this is a class on marriage and family. This project will help you get a better understanding on what it's like to be a parent or having to care for a child. Don't think of it as a rock, think of it as a child in your care. Anything else?" They both shook their heads. "Excellent then I will see you two in class tomorrow."

Draco and Hermione looked at each other after she left.

"If you tell anyone I have to take care of a stupid rock for this stupid project I'll…"

"Hex me into oblivion?" Hermione added sounding bored. "I'm not exactly thrilled about this either."

He leaned against the desk, crossing his arms over his chest as he smirked at her. She reached over towards him grabbing the empty vials of the ingredients they used to brew the potion. Draco flinched away as her arm accidentally brushed his side.

"Watch it will you." He sneered. "What are you doing anyway?"

"What do you think I'm doing? I'm cleaning up, something you could help me with. And if you moved out of my way then you wouldn't have to flinch away from me like a little girl."

"Whatever Granger. Is the bloody potion done yet, I have places to be."

Hermione rolled her eyes and ignored him as she continued to clean up. She slid the cauldron to the edge of the table, careful not to let it slosh over as she cleaned the spot where it sat before. Draco walked to the other side of the table near where the caldron sat. He picked up the rock that was supposed to turn into a baby and examined it as she continued to clean up their workstation.

"This is the most ridiculous assignment I've ever heard of." He grumbled tossing the rock up in the air and catching it in his hand, then tossing it up again.

"Just be lucky it's not an egg or a sack of flour." Hermione grumbled under her breath. "Will you stop doing that, before you knock over something." She told him as he continued to toss it in the air.

"What are you afraid I'm going to drop it? It's just a rock Granger it's not like it will break easily." He told her as he made a big show of tossing it high and catching it.

"I mean it…sto…" she flinched as he faked dropping it. "Stop it Malfoy I mean it. Stop…" he faked it again. "Damn it Malfoy are you trying to make me hex you." She told him walking around the table to take the rock from him, as he smirked at her. "Give it to me." She demanded as she held out her hand.

"No, you'll have to come and get it." He told her as he held it above his head out of her reach.

"What are you five? Give it here Malfoy." She gave him a stern warning.

"Nope like I said you'll have to come and take it from me." He brought his arm down and held the rock out towards her but still slightly out of her reach.

She knew if she tried to take the rock he would just snatch it out of reach again away from her. "I'm not playing this game with you Malfoy."

He didn't say anything, just held out the rock, out of reach. She rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, then reached out quickly to try to snatch it out of his hand. But he was faster and put the rock behind his back. She glared at him as she walked up towards him and tried to reach around him without actually having to touch him. He lifted it above his head. She of course was too short and couldn't reach unless she jumped for it. This was ridiculous.

"Give it here Malfoy." She snarled.

He made a face as if to think about that. "Hmmm, nope you're going to have to jump for it."

Unbelievable, she thought. She was already making a fool of herself so she jumped like a trained dog. Of course he tossed the rock to his other hand and held it out to his side. She launched to the side just after he switched hands again. Putting her hands on her hips she glared at him. As he laughed at her.

"This isn't funny."

"Come and get it." He taunted her as slowly made his way around the table.

She had two choices, crawl across the table and get it or go around either side. She reached over and tried to grabbed, he pulled back. She reached out again and managed to grab a hold of it. But he didn't let go, he tried to pull it away from her but she managed to hold on tight. Soon it became a tag-a-war between them.

"Let go damn it!"

"No you let go." He sneered tugging it closer to him.

Back and forth, they tugged and pulled. Her hands were starting to slip and she was losing her grip on the stupid rock. She tried to grip it tighter; she was not going to lose this stupid game he started. She couldn't hold on any longer, her fingers kept slipping then suddenly she lost her grip all together as well as her balance and flew backwards bumping into the table behind her. He must have fallen back as well and their workstation table shook from their collision. The cauldron teetered violently on the edge of the table directly above her. One last wobble and it fell towards the ground. She moved just in time before it crashed to the ground spilling the potion they took three days to make all over both of them and the floor. Both their clothing was soaked in purple liquid.

"NO!" She quickly righted the cauldron to prevent any more liquid to spill out, and then turned to Malfoy. "You idiot, this is your entire fault."

"My fault, you're the one who knocked into the table making the cauldron fall." He yelled at her as he came around the table and looked inside the cauldron.

"If you didn't start that stupid game of keep away none of this would have happen." She yelled back.

Thankfully there was still about half of the potion left inside, hopefully that would be enough to complete their project. The rock needed to be submerged into the liquid, and there was just enough for that to happen. So they wouldn't have to make the potion all over again. Draco levitated the cauldron back up on the table and dropped the rock inside. Wiping her hands on her skirt she pulled out her wand and chanted the spell to make their project complete. Once the spell was complete she couldn't help but notice the skin on her arms started tingling, as well as everywhere else the potion spilled on her. She shook off the sensation and levitated the cauldron to the far wall to sit next to the other classmates cauldrons.

Hermione looked over at Draco and noticed he was scowling down at his hands, turning them over and back again, then finally took the edge of his shirt and wiped his hands with it. Maybe he felt the odd tingling as well. The potion wasn't toxic and shouldn't hurt them, but it was still odd that it had an effect on them. Draco bent down and picked up his book bag off the ground and wiped away imaginary dust from it, and turned to leave.

Hermione watched him walk away, hands on her hips. "Yeah. You go ahead and leave. I'll just clean all of this mess up by myself." She said sarcastically towards this retreating form.

"You do that Granger. I didn't want to get my hands dirty anyway." Draco said then left the room.

Leaving a scowling Hermione behind.

Once Hermione finished cleaning up their mess, she made sure to wash her hands and arms real good. Her skin stopped tingling so she wasn't worried. She cleaned up her shirt and skirt as well that was still covered in purple liquid before leaving the classroom and headed towards the library so she could finish the rest of her homework from her other classes.

She stayed inside the library until Madame Pince told her to leave because it was closing time. She left the library with more books in her arms then she entered with. None of them were related to her studies, but she was getting low on her every day like-reading material and needed to restock. The books she had stacked in her arms were heavier then she expected and they made walking difficult, but she managed.

As she rounded the corner to go down towards the Gryffindor common room, she noticed Malfoy with his goons standing near the side of the wall. She tried her best to ignore them as she walked by. She could hear Pansy Parkinson snicker in her direction.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Malfoy trying to get Blaise Zabini's attention.

"Watch this." Malfoy told Zabini as he pulled his wand out and flicked it in her direction.

The next thing Hermione knew her books went flying in all directions and she lost her footing causing her to fall hard on her hands and knees, which caused the group of Slytherins to erupt in laugher. She felt her cheeks flare up in both embarrassment and anger.

"Really Granger, you shouldn't carry around so many books, it clearly disrupts your hand eye coordination. You should be more careful and watch where you're going next time." Malfoy smirked.

Before she could do anything, the group had already started walking in the opposite direction down the corridor. She could still hear the laughter from Pansy and Blaise. Hermione pushed her hair out of her face and began collecting the books that she dropped. Trying to regain a bit of her dignity back by holding her head up high, cursing Malfoy under her breath the entire time.

Little did they both know, that when they went to bed that night. Both of their lives were going to change big time.


	2. Chapter 2: The Parenting Project

Chapter Two: The Parenting Project

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione lay in bed, completely and utterly relaxed. For once she wasn't worrying about finishing her homework on time, or making sure she ran to the library to return a book on time before classes started, anything. She just wanted to stay in bed all day without a care in the world.

She stretched lazily feeling warm and completely content. She snuggled closer to the pillow she had clutched against her chest. Although for some reason, the pillow she held was unusually hard, hard and smooth and oh so warm. She stayed like that enjoying the feeling of the pillows and linens surrounding her body like a warm embrace.

She inhaled deep, taking in the spicy, outdoorsy scent surrounding her and listened to the soft steady beating beneath her ear. She stilled, listening to the beating that wasn't coming from her own heart, and smelling the spicy scent that wasn't coming off her linens, and she was pretty sure that her pillows weren't hard or warm.

She felt something caressing her back. It slid up her spine, then back down, finally pushing her forward forcing her to snuggle further into the warmth in front and beneath her. She slowly opened her eyes trying not to panic and came encountered with a naked chest. A male naked chest.

Hermione jerked back, almost falling off the bed, waking up the man who was currently in bed with her. His silver eyes shot open and stared at her sleepily.

"Who the bloody hell are you?"

She couldn't breathe, it couldn't be. "Malfoy?" she whispered too shocked to say anything else.

Draco was having the best dream ever, warm and fuzzy was the only way to describe it regardless of how sappy it sounded. He didn't want to wake up, screw classes he could probably afford to miss one day. Until the warm thing that was covering his body moved causing the whole bed to jerk.

He opened his eyes to see what the commotion was, he was still blurry eyed from sleep, but he could still make out that a half dressed woman was in bed with him.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" he said sitting up trying to rub the sleep from his eyes.

"Malfoy?" the woman asked shock filling her voice.

He looked at the woman more closely, taking in her appearance. She was small and petite with long soft looking curly brown hair falling over her shoulders. But it was the eyes, large brown eyes, staring back at him that he would recognize anywhere.

He couldn't breathe. "Granger?"

Hermione watched as Draco got out of the bed and glared at her. She was trying to rack her brain, wondering how Malfoy got into her bed. She distinctively remembered going to bed alone, falling asleep alone. But she couldn't remember how it would be possible, how would he make it into the Gryffindor common room?

It didn't help that he was standing on the opposite side of the bed wearing only a pair of black boxers. If she thought he looked built and had nicely toned muscles while wearing clothes, then she wasn't giving him enough credit. She had no idea he looked like this without clothes. She kept glancing at his smooth, well-toned, naked chest down to his slim waist that helped display his perfect toned abs. Strong broad shoulders led down to nicely muscled arms. He had the body of an Olympic swimmer, slim but perfectly muscled, without being huge and bulky.

She turned away, suddenly embarrassed for openly ogling him, she just prayed he didn't notice. She could feel the blush creeping up her cheeks.

"What are you doing in my bed Granger?" Malfoy sneered at her.

She recovered quickly from her embarrassment. "You're bed?" Hermione snapped. "What are you doing in my bed, Malfoy?"

He crossed his arms over his chest, which just made his perfect body stand out more. "Why would I want to slip into your bed? I'm not that desperate." He continued to glare at her. "And will you cover yourself up; it's disgusting to even look at you."

That prick, she thought then looked down at herself, expecting to see her fuzzy pajama bottoms and tank top. Instead, heat flamed up her face and quickly crossed her arms over her chest. What the bloody hell was she wearing? She had on a short, very short, plum colored silk teddy with lace trimming the edges. There was a small slit up the side, exposing the top of her thigh and the top barely had enough material to cover her breast, which were a bit bigger then she last remembered them being. Keeping one arm covering her breast she tried to pull down the bottom of the teddy further over her legs, which only resulted in dragging the top down even more, exposing more of her flesh. She gave up and just went back to crossing her arms over her chest.

She glanced up at Malfoy to glare at him, and if she wasn't mistaken she could've have sworn that she caught him staring at her legs, but it was probably just her imagination going haywire. Now he was smirking at her, clearly enjoying her discomfort.

"Yeah, well you should do the same. Your skin is so pale, it's practically blinding me. It makes me wonder if you glow in the dark." He glared at her, she knew it was an immature thing to say, but she just wanted the attention away from her.

She looked around her room to find her bathrobe, she usually kept it nearby. She looked towards her school trunk, since sometimes she would drape it over that, except her school trunk was nowhere to be found. In fact, this wasn't even her dormitory. It was an actual bedroom. Hermione looked at the bed, for the first time. It was huge, definitely not the twin bed she usually slept in.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked starting to get worried.

"What are you talking about Granger?"

"Look around Malfoy. Does this place look familiar to you?"

She watched him take in the bedroom, looking at the ivory walls, to the bathroom on the opposite side of the room, to the large bay window with a cushy looking bench seat. Finally settling back to the large king size bed with a black and ivory damask bedspread up against a deep scarlet red accent wall.

"Where have you taken me Granger?" Malfoy asked angrily.

"I haven't done anything, Malfoy! I'm just as clueless as you are right now." She yelled back, storming towards the bathroom looking for a bathrobe or something to cover up with.

She found it hanging on a hook behind the bathroom door. Although it wasn't the one she usually used, it was still better than what she was currently wearing which was practically nothing.

Malfoy followed her at her heels.

"Well I'm certainly not responsible for bringing us here."

She rolled her eyes, already disgusted by his behavior and shoved past him.

"What's that?" Malfoy asked.

She sighed, tying the belt of her robe tighter around her body. "What's, what Malfoy?"

"That noise?"

What noise? She was about to ask when she heard it too. It sounded like…sounded like a baby crying?

"It sounds like a baby." She told him, but he was already walking out the bedroom door.

Hermione followed him out the room which led to a hallway. Draco stopped in front of a closed door, where the crying was coming from. Before she could stop him, he slowly opened the door. The crying became louder. He stood in the doorway not walking in. She walked up next to him and peered inside.

"What's that?"

She rolled her eyes, "What does it look like Malfoy? It's a baby."

"I know what it is Granger, what is it doing here and who does it belong to?"

She sighed, "How would I know?"

"Well make it stop that…crying."

"Why do I have to do it?" she asked.

"Because you're a girl." She glared at him. "I'm sure you know how to handle that thing more than I do."

She shook her head, "I wouldn't be so sure of that." She muttered.

He apparently ignored her, "Right, well I'm going to go look around and try to figure out who that-" he gestured to the crying baby, "-belongs to and where we are." He shoved her further into the room then started walking further down the hallway.

"Malfoy come back here!" she hissed, but clearly he wasn't going to.

She faced back towards the crying baby. She didn't know a whole lot about children, especially babies. Once or twice she helped her cousin babysit, but her cousin was older so she took care of most of the work. All Hermione had to do was play with the children and keep them entertained.

Taking a deep breath she slowly walked into the room and turned on the light. In the light she could finally make out the source of the crying. A baby with curly blonde hair stood in its white crib, clutching the edge of the railing. It would have been cute if it wasn't screaming with a red, puffy, tear stained face. It reached its arms out to Hermione.

"Mama!" it wailed.

Hermione approached it slowly. "It's okay. I won't hurt you." She said in what she hoped was a soothing voice.

"Mama!"

Hermione reached the crib.

"Mama," the baby held up its arms like it wanted her to pick it up.

Hermione put her hands under its little armpits and lifted. "It's okay, we'll find your mummy and get this all sorted out."

Once Hermione cradled the baby over her shoulder, the crying became less intense. More like a fussing kind of noise.

She began rubbing its back trying to sooth it. "It's okay…" she looked around the room; it was a soft lavender color, with white wicker furniture. Big colorful letters were displayed on one of the walls, spelling out C.R.I.S.S.Y.

"Crissy." Hermione murmured. "Is that your name? Crissy?"

The baby hiccupped then sniffled.

"Crissy. That's a pretty name." She continued to rub Crissy's back to calm her down as she quietly looked around the room.

There was a small bookshelf on the far side of the room. Hermione went closer to look at the pictures sitting on the shelves. Her blood ran cold. It couldn't be? She reached for one of the pictures. If she wasn't mistaken, it was her, baby Crissy and…Malfoy. They were smiling and Malfoy had his arms around her while she held Crissy. Hermione set the picture down and grabbed another. It was her in a hospital bed holding a newborn baby and Malfoy was sitting next to her on the bed kissing her temple. Others displayed Harry and Ron holding Crissy, others had Pansy and Blaise, she scowled. What was this?

She started to shake, what was going on? She was about to set the picture down, when she noticed a huge ring on her finger, her ring finger. It couldn't be? She couldn't possibly be married to him? Draco walked into the room then. She didn't say anything, didn't even turn around.

"I've checked everywhere. There's no one else in this house...what's wrong?"

She turned slowly, feeling sick to her stomach. "I think we have a problem here." She handed him the picture of the three of them.

Crissy choose that moment to speak up. "Dada," she squealed pointing to Draco.

"What?" Draco shook his head in disbelief.

"Dada," Crissy reached out her arms towards Draco practically climbing out of Hermione's arms.

"No," Draco said backing away. "No way. That's not possible. Why does that thing keep saying that?"

"It's not a thing." Hermione said trying to get a better hold on the swarming Crissy. "It's a baby, and she thinks you're her father. And I think she wants you to hold her."

"Absolutely not! I don't know a thing about holding a baby. And it looks fine where it is." He said backing up further.

Hermione rolled her eyes, if they weren't stuck in this mess she would have laughed at him for being scared of a baby. "Her name is Crissy not 'it.'"

"How do you know it's a girl? Or that it's named Crissy?"

"Really Malfoy?" Hermione propped Crissy on her hip. "Are you that thick? Look around." She moved her hand around the lavender room. "Would you put a boy in this room? And I'm assuming her name is Crissy because it says so on that wall." She pointed to the letters spelling out her name.

"That still doesn't explain why you think she's mine?"

"I think you mean 'ours.' And I don't know for sure, but there are all of these pictures over here saying otherwise."

Draco walked over to the bookshelf where the pictures were displayed. "I think I would remember if I had a baby."

Hermione laughed, "And you think I wouldn't Malfoy? All you probably had to do was stand there and watch. I was the one who would have not only carried the baby for nine months but also deliver it. Yet I don't remember any of that. Yesterday I was a 7th year, 18 year old student at Hogwarts and then today wake up to this."

Draco sighed running a hand through his hair. Hermione couldn't help but not stare. Damn him for not putting on a shirt. She couldn't concentrate very well with him walking around shirtless.

"See something you like Granger?" He caught her staring and smirked.

She glared at him, even though her cheeks were on fire.

He looked around the room. "Where are we and how did we get stuck here?"

Hermione switched Crissy to her other hip. "I don't know, what is the last thing you remember?"

"Hell I don't know Granger, going to sleep in my own bed?" He yelled, which upset Crissy and she started crying.

Draco looked panicked stricken.

Hermione tried to sooth Crissy back down. "It's okay Crissy. He didn't mean to scare you." She murmured into her hair, rocking her back and forth while rubbing her back.

Once Crissy calmed down, Hermione got an idea. She held Crissy out away from her body towards Draco.

"Say you're sorry." She told him.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"No, hold her and say it like you mean it."

Crissy sniffled and held out her tiny arms towards Draco.

"Uh, I don't know…" he said unsure.

"She's just a baby. She won't hurt you."

He sneered at Hermione and carefully reached out and grabbed Crissy around the back. Once Hermione knew he had a good hold on her she let go. He held Crissy at arm's length looking scared to death, while Crissy stuck her hand in her mouth and began to suck on it, making cooing sounds.

"Now what?" Draco asked.

"Just hold her against your chest and you should be fine." Hermione said as she turned and started walking out the door.

"Whoa, whoa Granger! Where are you going? Come back here. You can't just leave me with this…uh Crissy."

Hermione looked over her shoulder trying not to grin. "You're doing fine. She seems to like you." She said as she walked out the room trying really hard not to laugh.

Draco watched Granger leave the room, and then looked at the baby he was holding. "If you drool on me, you're going back to Granger." Draco whispered to the baby.

Crissy smiled then giggled. "Dada!"

Draco sighed than gave in and smiled at the baby, which he wouldn't have done if Granger was still in the room. He put Crissy over his shoulder like Granger held her earlier and walked out the room.

Hermione walked into the kitchen and looked around. This house was like her dream home, not to big, but not too small. Nice and cozy. She stood in the middle of the kitchen, not entirely sure what to do next. Draco followed in behind her carrying Crissy. He walked over to one of the walls next to the refrigerator where a calendar hung.

"It's September 27th, 2016. Which means we're six years older, which makes us what? 23?" Malfoy asked still looking at the calendar. "Looks like you still possess obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to organizing notes." He said looking at a list of places, names and numbers of who to call in case of emergencies.

Next to that was a list called "Draco's Practice Schedule." Draco looked over it and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"It says here, that I'm the seeker for the Ballycastle Bats." He laughed. "I'm getting paid to play quidditch, this is so wicked! I'm a professional quidditch player!" He said tickling Crissy in the tummy making her giggle.

Hermione watched him smiling slightly. It looks like Crissy and he were bonding quickly.

"Ba-ba." Crissy patted Draco's cheek to get his attention when he was still looking over the different lists and notes Hermione had hanging on the wall.

He turned to look at Crissy.

"Ba-ba," she patted her mouth with her hand.

Draco turned to Hermione. "What is that supposed to mean?"

Hermione shrugged leaning against the counter. "Maybe she's hungry?"

Draco raked his gaze up and down Hermione's robe covered body with a teasing glint in his eyes. "Are you going to breast feed her?" He smirked.

Hermione's eyes grew huge and a blush flared in her cheeks. It was fun to make her blush, he thought. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared.

"She's too old for that." Hermione said feeling self-conscious now.

"How do you know?" Malfoy asked.

"Because she has teeth Malfoy!"

He shrugged, "Only four little ones." He smiled. "I'm sure she wouldn't bite down hard." Draco couldn't help but tease her about this, it was too much fun.

Hermione blushed deeper. "Ugh, you're insufferable." She stomped over to the refrigerator and yanked it open.

She could hear him laughing. She saw some baby food jars and a couple of bottles of formula; she wasn't exactly sure what Crissy ate in the mornings so she went ahead and grabbed one of each.

"Hey Granger, come look at this."

She shut the refrigerator door and turned towards Malfoy, who went over to where the dining table was. She walked over to the table and found what Malfoy was looking at. There were stacks of books on babies; everything from the development of babies, How to get your baby to start talking, How to become a good parent, how to prep your home for babies, and even some on what to expect when you're an expectant mother.

"What do you think all of this is for?" Draco asked.

"It looks like a pile of books on babies." She told him stating the obvious.

"Yeah but what are they doing here on this table?" He asked shifting Crissy to his other hip.

"I don't know, maybe we or someone was doing research on how to take care of a baby?" Hermione said locating a highchair and pulling it towards the table.

She took Crissy from Draco and sat her in the chair, then sat down next to her. Hermione didn't know a thing about babies…not really. Crissy had a couple teeth, did that mean she could eat solid food? Or did she still drink formula? She set down both a bottle of formula in front of Crissy as well as a baby jar full of applesauce. Crissy reached for the bottle, and brought it to her mouth and began to drink.

Draco walked around the living room looking for Merlin, knows what. She watched him pull out what looked like a photo album from the bookshelf and opened it up. Flipping through it he walked back towards the table where she was thumbing through one of the baby books that sat at the table.

"Looks like this is Crissy baby album. It says here Crissy was born August 14th, 2015. So that makes her what a little over a year old?" Draco asked.

"13 months." Hermione said flipping to the section of the book that was dedicated to 12 to 15 month olds and started reading it.

Draco plopped down into a seat next to them. "How the hell did we get here, and how the bloody hell do we get back?" He asked resting his head on his hands.

Hermione put the book down and looked at him. "Well obviously we somehow got bumped into the future, or some alternative universe we were actually like each other and get along." She told him with a sour taste in her mouth. "We need to retrace our steps, tell me exactly what you remember doing yesterday."

"Why do you think this is my doing? What do you remember doing yesterday Ms. Know it all?"

"All I remember is attending classes, eating lunch and dinner in the great hall. Then we had our lab hours at six o'clock where we had to finish brewing the potion. Then Candlewick came in and told us what the project was and that we had to enchant a rock, and somehow that was going to turn into a baby…"

"This isn't our project is it? I mean Crissy isn't the rock that we added to the potion is it?"

"No it couldn't be. Candlewick told us that the rock would only transform in the classroom during our Muggle Studies class. Outside of the class it would turn back into a rock. And this place doesn't look anything like the classroom or anything that resembles Hogwarts. And we're six years into the future. Something must have happened between last night and today. Unless…" She furrowed her brows in concentration.

"Unless what?" He asked her running a hand through his hair.

"Did any of the potion get on your skin last night after the caldron fell over?"

"Yeah, it ruined my clothing as well. Why?"

"Did you by any chance feel any tingling sensation after the spell was in place?"

"Maybe…why? He asked looking worried.

"Because after I casted the spell anywhere the liquid toughed my skin, it tingled. But it wasn't strong, so at the time I didn't think anything of it. But it still doesn't make sense, none of the ingredients we used are ones used for a time traveling spell, and the potion we made definitely wasn't anything strong enough to invoke time travel."

"Maybe this is just one horrible dream that I'll wake up from any moment." Draco mumbled dragging a hand over his face.

"Maybe we can track down Candlewick and see if she knows anything about what happened? Surely she will have some answers for us."

"And how do we do that? I doubt she still works at Hogwarts, she seemed pretty flaky to me, and she couldn't possibly last long there. Especially if she has students randomly disappearing on her clock."

"Well it wouldn't hurt to start there and see if she still works there, or if there are any other professors who might know what happened to us?" She told him.

"This has to be a mistake I wouldn't marry you if my life depended on it." He told her.

"Yeah well I wouldn't marry you if you were the last guy on the planet." Hermione glared at him.

"Good." He sneered.

"Good," She retorted. "I'm going to finish feeding her." Hermione said as she reached for Crissy. "You go…put a shirt on!"

"But Granger, I thought you liked looking at me without a shirt?"

Hermione blushed but covered it up by rolling her eyes. "In your dreams Malfoy." She said then turned and walked back into the kitchen.

Hermione tried feeding Crissy applesauce, which ended up being a much more difficult task then it appeared. The majority of the food ended up either on Crissy's face or on her clothes, more than it did her mouth. The little bugger thought it was funny to spit it out rather than swallow it.

Once Hermione felt that Crissy had enough to eat, hopefully four small spoonfuls of applesauce would be enough to last her until later. She realized Crissy was in dire need of a changing, not only her clothes which were now a gooey mess covered in applesauce but also a diaper change. Hermione wrinkled her nose, she could make Malfoy do it, but she knew all too well who would win that argument and it wasn't going to be her. Besides she would have to do it at some point.

She picked Crissy up after managing to clean her sticky face and hands off, and then took her to the nursery. It took her a few tries at changing her diaper, but she finally managed to do it right without magic. Once she had Crissy all nice and clean, she went over to Crissy tiny wardrobe to pick out an outfit. It was only September, so it was probably still warm out. Not that she was planning on taking Crissy outside or anything. Hermione finally picked out a cute yellow outfit with purple fairies dancing on it.

Crissy was in her crib playing with a stuffed dragon that was purple with green and blue scales. Crissy didn't like that she had to let go of her friend in order to get dressed but she managed to do so without much of a fuss. Once Hermione snapped all of the tiny buttons to her little outfit, she picked Crissy up out of her crib and was prepared to turn around and walk out the door. When Crissy flung her arms out as if wanting to reach back in the crib.

"Ga-ga," Crissy cried.

Hermione realized Crissy wanted her dragon or 'Ga-ga,' so she reached in and grabbed it for her then handed it to Crissy. Crissy immediately clutched her little fingers around its tail and hung on to it, smiling brightly up at Hermione. Hermione couldn't help but smile back. She really was quite adorable even if she was half Malfoy.

Hermione reached out and tickled Crissy on the tummy like she saw Malfoy do earlier, and was rewarded with a giggle and a toothy grin from her daughter.

"Come on little one; let's get you situated so mummy can get dressed."

Hermione was still wearing that piece of nothing silk under her fluffy bathrobe. And the sooner she got into some real clothes the more confident she will feel about this parenting stuff.

Hermione walked with Crissy back to the living room. She noticed Malfoy in the kitchen eating breakfast, and thankfully he was fully dressed. She could tell he showered, because his hair was still slightly damp.

She put Crissy down in a play-pin that was set up in the corner. Crissy continued to play happily with her dragon, babbling little nothings to herself. Hermione watched a bit then decided to go into the kitchen and ask Malfoy to watch Crissy while she got ready for the day.

She walked and that's when the smell hit her. "What the bloody hell is that?" Hermione asked plugging her nose so she wouldn't have to smell it.

Malfoy looked up from the Daily Prophet he was reading. "What?"

"That smell?" she said looking around trying to see where it was coming from.

Malfoy sniffed the air, "What are you talking about Granger? I don't smell anything. All I smell is coffee."

Coffee! Just the sound of it made her stomach twist. Plugging her nose wasn't enough. She was going to be sick. Everything was happening so fast. She tried to breathe, but every time she took a breath, she inhaled the scent more.

Sweat beaded on her forehead and she could feel it running down her back. She couldn't stop it; she looked around frantically, then ran to the sink and threw up. Once the nausea and the churning in her stomach stopped, she managed to rinse her mouth out and straighten up wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her robe. She looked over, suddenly remembering that she wasn't alone, to see Malfoy staring at her in horror or maybe disgust.

"Are you sick?" Draco asked looking like he wanted to bolt at any minute.

Hermione ran a shaky hand through her hair, not at all worried that it possibly resembled a bird's nest. "I don't think so. I was fine a moment ago."

"Okay good." He said as he picked up his empty bowl of cereal and coffee mug.

Not a 'are you feeling better?' or a 'do you need anything?' from him. Then started to carry his dishes to the sink.

"Don't come near me with that!" Hermione yelled.

Draco stopped in his tracks and looked at the items in his hands. "What?" He asked confused.

"That!" she pointed to this coffee mug, then plugged her nose with her other hand.

"Okay, okay. It's gone." He shoved the mug on the counter behind him and shielded his body in front of it, so it wasn't in her line of sight. "Just don't throw up again."

She put her hand down and took a few deep breaths, which helped ease her stomach down.

He watched her tentatively. "Are you ok…Are you going to be sick again?"

"No I'm fine now. I think. Can you watch Crissy while I go get dressed?"

Draco nodded, but didn't move from his spot, probably still hiding the coffee mug from her. "Where is she?"

"In her play-pin in the living room." Hermione said, and then walked out the kitchen holding her breath.

It wasn't until she got to the bedroom that she finally took in a deep breath. What was wrong with her? She was feeling fine all morning then…bam! She drank coffee all the time; coffee,

cappuccinos, lattes and never once had she gotten sick from it or especially from the smell of it. Maybe Malfoy just makes his extra strong? But that didn't make sense either.

The sick nauseous feeling came on her like a tidal wave. She went to the bathroom, ignoring the wedding photo she saw of her and Malfoy, sitting on top of one of the dressers, and shut the door. She looked in the mirror and grimaced. Her skin was a pasty gray and she still felt clammy from being sick. Her hair indeed looked out of control.

She realized this was the first time looking at herself since waking up this morning. Waking up with Malfoy…she shuddered. There was no way they would ever even consider marrying each other in the future.

She peered in closer to the mirror; she looked older, but not by too much. Her hair was longer, and she looked tired. Luckily no wrinkles or age spots on her face yet. Malfoy said it was 2016, which would make her 23 years old. Wow, she thought. By 23, she would have thought that she would have a career by then. Possibly in the Ministry or maybe at Hogwarts. But instead she had a child. Not that that was a bad thing. She knew she always wanted a family; she just thought maybe she would get her life settled first and have children later.

Malfoy said he played quidditch professionally, Hermione wondered what she did? She took her robe off and stepped back looking at herself in the mirror. Just looking at herself in the silk teddy made her blush; she couldn't believe that Malfoy actually saw her in this. What was she doing wearing something like that to bed? She prayed that whatever happened before they got here, that she wasn't doing anything to try to seduce Malfoy. Of course they were married; it wouldn't be out of the norm. But still it was too disturbing to think about.

The piece of silk barely covered her body. She thanked Merlin that she was wearing knickers underneath it, because a couple of inches higher and she would be bearing all. Her body looked curvier then she remembered. Her breast were slightly fuller and her hips slightly wider. But all of that probably comes with the territory after you have a baby.

She still had a nice figure, in her opinion. Healthy. And she kind of liked her new curves; it actually made her feel like a girl. Whereas before…or yesterday she had the body of a boy; no hips and small barely there, non-existent breasts.

Hermione made sure to brush her teeth nice and good, and rinse out her mouth with mouth wash twice to get the taste of vomit out. She stepped under the hot water of the shower and immediately felt better. It was almost as if she was never sick in the first place. Maybe she ate something weird the day before. She was actually feeling quite hungry now. She realized that in all the excitement of the morning she hadn't eaten anything yet.

Once she was out of the shower, she cursed herself for not bringing in clean clothes. Once she was dried off she stepped back into her bathrobe and peeked her head out the bathroom door to make sure Malfoy wasn't in the room. When she noticed that she was alone, she walked out and went over to what she assumed was the closet.

She opened the door and was amazed by the size of it. Apparently her and Malfoy shared it, because on one side were men's clothes, and the other women's clothes. She spotted Malfoy's quidditch robes hanging on the inside of the door. She walked in to get a closer look on her side. She had everything from casual t-shirts, to blouses and skirts, to pretty sundresses, to fancy party dresses.

She picked soft t-shirt and a pair of jeans. The shirt fit fine, maybe a bit snug, but the jeans were a different story. They fit but she couldn't button them up. She grabbed another pair and the same thing happened. She went through every pair and was about to give up and just wear sweatpants instead. She didn't look that big and the jeans seemed like they would be the correct size. She finally picked the pair that fit the best and sucked in her breath until she could fasten the button. Her belly was slightly sticking out but she didn't care, all that mattered was that she finally got her jeans fasten.

She went back to the bathroom to dry her hair. Once it was dry she twisted it up into a tight knot and secured it with a clip. She didn't bother with makeup, because she definitely wasn't trying to impress Malfoy and she didn't care what he thought of her anyway.

Once Granger left the kitchen to go change, Draco went on to the living room following the cooing sounds coming from Crissy's play-pin. He causally looked over the top and saw her playing with a stuffed purple dragon. He crouched down to get a closer look.

"Hey I had a dragon like that when I was little. Except mine was green. And his name was Gus."

Crissy looked up at him, then back to her toy. "Ga-ga." She squealed then stuck its tail in her mouth and began to suck on it.

He shook his head and smiled. He couldn't believe he was stuck here in a place where he had a baby and was married to Granger of all people. The baby was cute and all but he wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Working alone in a classroom with Granger was one thing, but having to actually live with her was going to be a nightmare. Especially after he saw her in that outfit she was wearing when they woke up. He told her it looked disgusting on her, but he didn't mean it. He couldn't help but get turned on, seeing her in that thing. Granger actually had legs, and hips and brea…no! Not going there, he thought as he shook his head.

The idea of raising a baby scared the hell out of him, so maybe having Granger here wouldn't be all that horrible. Since she would go above and beyond to make sure the baby was taken care of even if it was a complete stranger to her. This is why she was known as the know-it-all at school, because she always did more than was asked of her. But in this case, it might not be a bad thing. At least he wouldn't have to take care of kid by himself.

Crissy seemed pretty occupied with her dragon, so he decided to look around the room a bit. He walked over to a bookshelf and looked over some of the books there. He noticed some school books from Hogwarts; those were most likely Grangers, since he had no desire to keep his books once he was finished with them. He didn't cherish them as much as she did.

He noticed a couple more photo albums on one of the shelves. He pulled one out and looked through it. Just his luck it was their wedding album. He shut it and started to put it back, but then curiosity got the best of him and he opened it back up. The couple in the pictures definitely looked like him and Granger. Whoever put this book together added their wedding announcements and a copy of their wedding invitation. From the dates on them, it would mean that he and Granger got married right out of Hogwarts probably not far after their graduation.

In the pictures, they looked so happy. It was really weird seeing pictures of him smiling and laughing and just having a good time. He hadn't looked that happy in a longtime. In every picture it was as if they had to be touching each other in some way. They were either holding hands, dancing, hugging or kissing. He scowled. He had no idea why he would want to marry her in the first place.

"What are you looking at?"

He snapped the book shut, almost feeling guilty for looking at it, well not guilty, embarrassed was more like it. He turned around to look at Granger, who was standing behind him.

"Nothing." He said casually as he put the album back on the shelf.

She arched an eyebrow up at him, but didn't question him. "Okay." Hermione said then walked into the kitchen.

Hermione came back in the living room with a stack of books in her arms. He rolled his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Draco asked as she set the books down on the coffee table and sat down on the sofa curling her legs underneath her.

"Studying."

"Why?"

She let out a sigh. "One of us needs to know what to do and how to take care of a baby."

"Well you can be in charge of that." He said walking over to Crissy in her play-pin.

He lifted her out of it along with her dragon and set them on the carpet. Then he sat down in front of them. He glanced back at Granger who was already writing notes from whatever she was reading. He pulled his wand out and was about to point it at Crissy's dragon.

"What do you think you're doing?" Granger snapped.

"What?"

"You can't point a wand at a baby."

"Why not?"

"You might accidentally cast something. What if you hexed her by accident?"

"Oh Granger relax. I'm not going to hurt her. I'm just going to show her trick. Don't you trust me?"

"No." Hermione responded automatically.

"I guess that's fair. Cause I don't trust you either. But I won't harm her."

Hermione looked like she wanted to argue, looking from him over to Crissy. "Fine, just be careful."

He shook his head then turned his attention back to Crissy. "Hey Crissy, watch this."

He flicked his wand towards her dragon and it came to life. It started purring like a kitten and rubbed its fuzzy head across Crissy's are. Then climbed up her little body to lick her face with its felt forked tongue, causing Crissy to break out in giggles. Next it climbed down and started walking around Crissy in circles. When Crissy tried to grab for it, it would flap its wings and fly a few inches off the ground. Crissy reached up, giggling, trying to catch it.

"Ga-ga!" she squealed in delight when it shot out a puff of glitter from its mouth, that disappeared before it hit the ground.

Draco watched in amusement at how much fun she was having with that dragon of hers. Every now and then, it would fly up to high for her to reach and he would have to grab it and lower it down so it wouldn't stray too far from her. One time it bumped into Granger, disrupting her reading.

"Don't you do anything else besides studying?" He teased her.

She looked up at him with a bored expression. "Like I said someone has to know what to do." She said then went back to reading.

He couldn't let it go. "Yeah, but do you even know how to have fun?"

Hermione put the book down. "Of course I know how to have fun." She snapped defensively.

"Really? It seems like every time I see you, you're studying for some test, or you have your nose stuck in a book, or you're coming out of the library, or carrying around an armload of books at a time."

"Oh like last night when you decided to show off and trip me on purpose in front of your friends, so you could point and laugh at my expense?"

He shrugged, "I told you to watch where you were going."

She rolled her eyes at him and went back to reading.

"No really, what do you do for fun?"

"Why do you care?"

"I'm just curious. And don't tell me you like to read or study or write term papers or anything that has to do with schoolwork."

Hermione shrugged, "But I like reading and writing."

He gave her a stern look.

"What? I read other books that aren't related to school too."

"What else?"

She thought about it, "I like hanging out with my friends."

"Right with Potter and Weasley. And tell me Granger, what do you do with them? Sit back and watch them play wizard's chess? Or follow them out to the quidditch patch and watch them practice?"

"That's not all we do. We talk and hang out."

"Oh come on Granger, there has to be something that you like to do just for yourself?"

"What do you like to do for fun Malfoy?"

"Fly."

She shook her head, "Figures." She muttered.

"You're turn." He pushed further.

She sighed. "I like to dance."

"Dance?" He made a face.

"Yes, dance. I used to dance all the time before I made it into Hogwarts. I was on a competitive team and everything."

"So what happen?" He asked grabbing the dragon when it flew up to high out of Crissy's reach.

Hermione shrugged. "I found out I was a witch and went off to Hogwarts. I used to take classes in the summer, but after a while I just didn't have time to anymore so I just stopped."

"If you could, would you pick it up again?" Draco didn't know why he was asking these questions and actually engaging Granger into a conversation, maybe he was just bored or something.

"Probably, maybe, I don't know. It's been a while. And so much has changed since I was 11."

The rest of the day went fairly well for the most part. And to Hermione's surprise Malfoy seemed to get on really well with Crissy. It was clear the Crissy was definitely on her way to becoming a daddy's girl. Daddy? Malfoy? She still couldn't quite wrap her head around that bit of information. She would have never guessed that he would be one to like children. But it ended up working out well, because it gave her time to study up on babies.

She learned that in this stage in life babies are more impressionable than ever, because their learning to form words together and start mimicking things they see their parents doing. They also are becoming very active like learning to crawl around and sit and stand up. Some can even start walking around this stage.

Around two or so Hermione put Crissy down for a nap. And at one point Hermione attempted to make Malfoy change Crissy's diaper, but he complained the entire time that he didn't know what he was doing and didn't want to hurt her. So in the end Hermione ended up doing all the work and teaching him how to do it as she went, and told him that next time he was going to do it no questions asked.

Once they put her down for the night, Hermione didn't realize how tired she was. All she did that day was study and take notes, so she didn't really have any reason to be so tired. It also brought up the question, where were they sleeping tonight?

She didn't really want to share the bed with Malfoy and she knew he wouldn't want to either. From her tour around the house she noticed there wasn't an extra guestroom. She really doubted that Malfoy would give up the bed easily, because normally he was extremely selfish like that. They walked into the master bedroom with the huge bed becoming the main focal point. As if reading her mind he spoke up.

"I don't know about you but I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you Granger."

"Good, I wouldn't want you to." She said yawning.

"So what are we going to do about it?"

"Someone could take the sofa and by someone I mean you." She said.

"No way Granger. I'm not sleeping on that."

"And what makes you think I am?" She put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

"Fine, we'll flip for it. Winner gets the bed, loser gets the sofa." He said pulling a coin out of his pocket.

"Wait let me see that. I just want to make sure you're not cheating." She took the coin and flipped it over to make sure it wasn't a trick coin.

"You flip it and I'll call it." He said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Fine ready?" she flipped the coin in the air.

"Heads." Draco called out.

She caught it and set it on her hand, it was heads. "Damn-it."

He smirked at her as he grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and shoved it at her. "Sweet Dreams Granger."


	3. Chapter 3: Day Two

Chapter Three: Day Two

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione walked grudgingly to the living room holding the pillow Malfoy shoved at her and a blanket she found in the hall closet. She should have known Malfoy wouldn't have a chivalrous bone in his body. No they had to flip for the bed and just her luck, she lost, which meant now she would be sleeping on the sofa.

Her head was starting to ache and she was starting to get nauseous again. And sleeping on a hard sofa wasn't going to help.

Hermione walked into the living, staring at her temporary bed that she would be sleeping in. If she wasn't mistaken the sofa looked a lot smaller than it did earlier that day. She arranged the pillow she had and the blanket, than laid down.

Yep, just as she expected. When she laid down flat, her feet dangled over the edge. The creases in the cushions were digging in her back. She felt like she had no room to move or else she'll roll over the end. This was going to be a long uncomfortable night, but she was so tired, she might as well try to get some sleep.

After tossing and turning, trying to find the most comfortable position. Hermione finally fell asleep, only to be awakened by a cry. Hermione sat up and rubbed her eyes and rolled her shoulders trying to stretch out her achy joints. Standing up she padded softly down the hallway towards the nursery.

Hermione glared at the door that led to the master bedroom. It was still shut, which meant Malfoy was asleep and didn't hear Crissy or he didn't care. She softly opened the door to the nursery, so she wouldn't startled Crissy, who was fussing in her crib.

A small nightlight gave a soft glow around the room, just enough that Hermione could see the outline of the crib without having to turn on the main light to see. She walked up to the crib and peeked over.

"Hi honey. What's the matter?" Hermione asked softly.

Crissy sniffled. Hermione reached down and lifted Crissy out of the crib and held her against her chest.

"What's wrong? Can't sleep?" Crissy sniffled again and laid her head against her shoulder while sticking her thumb in her mouth to suck. "It's okay, I couldn't sleep either." Hermione told her as she rubbed Crissy's back to sooth her. "Mal…you're father thought it was funny to make me sleep on the sofa. When you get older and you have a husband or a boyfriend and they make you sleep on the sofa instead of giving you the nice big comfy bed. Then my advice would be to dump them. A real man wouldn't let the woman he loves or cares about sleep on the hard lumpy sofa."

Hermione was venting she knew that, but at least she had someone to talk to, even if Crissy didn't understand what she was saying and couldn't talk back. Instead Crissy gave a loud hiccup and snuggled in closer to Hermione's chest.

Hermione smiled and kissed her head through her soft baby curls. She started humming as she continued to rub Crissy's back. It just felt like the natural thing to do. At first it was just a random tune that she was humming. It soon turned into a song she remembered her mother used to sing to her when she was little and couldn't sleep. And before she knew it, she was adding words to the song.

Hermione wasn't a singer by any means, but she could at least attempt to carry a tune. And she didn't dare allow her voice to go above a whisper for fear Malfoy would hear. It would just be another thing to mock her about if he heard. Crissy didn't seem to be complaining about her voice, so she didn't bother stopping.

Draco didn't know what was wrong with him, and why he couldn't sleep. He was in a huge, comfortable bed and yet as soon as Granger left the room he couldn't sleep, kept tossing and turning. Surely he wasn't feeling guilty over taking the bed from her, because he won fair and square.

Maybe it was trying to sleep in a strange place? But that didn't make sense either, as long as he had a pillow under his head, he could sleep just about anywhere. It almost felt like something was missing. The bed was almost too big for one person that it felt empty with just himself in it. Which was madness because this is the same size bed he had back at the Malfoy Manor, and never once has he felt as if he were being swallowed whole in the bed.

He ended up laying on his back staring up at the ceiling. Maybe sleep will eventually come if he became bored enough. But damn-it if he couldn't stop thinking of Granger in that silk number she had on earlier that morning. She made a huge show of putting on a pair of ugly sweat pants and the baggiest t-shirt he'd ever seen. It practically covered her from head to toe, the sweat pants weren't even necessary. But then it would be as if she were wearing a dress or in this case a nightgown, which meant her legs would be bare and that meant it would give him easy access to…

No damn-it! He cursed; he had to stop thinking about Granger and her legs. It was disturbing and he should be disgusted by it…but yet, he wasn't and it was pissing him off. He tried to distract himself by thinking about his quidditch practice tomorrow. Draco wondered what it was going to be like. He hoped he wouldn't foul anything up. He didn't even know any of the plays or the players for that matter.

He heard Crissy crying from her room. He wasn't exactly sure what to do. Crissy didn't sound like she was crying very hard. Maybe she will cry herself back to sleep? When the crying didn't stop he sat up getting ready to go check on her when he heard Granger's voice. It sounded like she was in the room with him. But she was clearly talking to the baby.

"Granger?" he called out, the room was dark and he couldn't see anyone in the room.

He turned on the bedside lamp and noticed that he was indeed alone in the room, but why did her voice sound so close, like she was right there? He looked around to see if he could spot where the sound was coming from. He noticed a white plastic box. He picked it up and held it to his ear. That was it; it was where the voices were coming from, like some sort of listening device.

He set it down, "must be muggle-made." He muttered, since he had never seen anything like it before.

He heard Granger talking to Crissy and realized that she was talking about him. He listened to her rant on about how he made her sleep on the sofa and that he wasn't man enough to let her have the bed. He smirked. So she was upset that she lost the coin toss? Well winner's keepers, losers weepers, or whatever that muggle saying was.

He was about to go to the nursery himself and tell Granger to stop whining and also that he could hear every word that she was saying. Until she started singing. He didn't realize it at first that it was Granger doing the singing, but then again it certainly wasn't Crissy.

He stopped and listened. All the teasing went out of him as he listened to her. Yeah, she probably had absolutely no idea that he could hear her from the bedroom. He couldn't go in the nursery now and tease her about it, because then she would stop and probably blush like she always did. Then he would probably be held responsible if Crissy couldn't go back to sleep. And we wasn't that cruel, to deprive a baby from being able to sleep.

Draco went back over to the bed and laid down lacing his hands behind his head and continued to listen. She wasn't a musical genius or anything but she could carry a tune. He was trying to figure out the song she was singing.

It sounded like a lullaby, but not one he was familiar with. It was something about finding a rainbow? Or going over a rainbow? He didn't know and didn't really care. He just liked listening to her voice. He shut his eyes and continued to listen, it was rather calming and he felt himself began to drift off to sleep. Soon the singing turned into a soft humming, and then eventually stopped altogether. Crissy must have finally went back to sleep, because he didn't hear anything else after that. He too finally drifted off to sleep.

Draco woke up early, anxious to start the day and go to his first quidditch practice. He got out of bed and went to the bathroom to grab a quick shower. Once he was finished he grabbed his Ballycastle Bats quidditch robes and bag, and then walked out the bedroom and into the living room.

The place was quiet. He set his bag and robes on the dining table and creeped over to the sofa and peeked over. Hermione was sound asleep, with the blanket around her waist and her feet dangling over the edge. Her hair was loose, spreading out along her pillow, her lips slightly parted as she breathed evenly. She obviously didn't know he was in the room, and the more he thought about it, the more he decided he needed to leave before she woke up and saw him staring at her.

Before grabbing something to eat, he went to the nursery to check on Crissy, for a brief second he almost forgot about the third person in the household. Once at the nursery, he leaned against the door listening for any sound coming from the room.

He heard giggling. Draco slowly opened the door and peeked inside. Crissy was sitting in her crib, playing with her dragon or Gus the 2nd as he liked to think of him, named after his own toy dragon he had as a boy. Ga-ga to Crissy though. He still had Gus somewhere hidden in the depths of his closet, probably back at the Manor.

Crissy saw him and waved her little hands in the air. "Dada," she squealed.

"Morning princess." He said as he walked into the room.

As he walked closer to her crib, he could tell right away that she needed a change in diaper. Damn, where was Granger when he needed her? He picked Crissy up and took her over to the changing table. Trying to remember what Granger showed him the other day. 'Remember to keep Crissy distracted and entertained, so she doesn't squirm all over the place.' he remembered her mentioning.

"If my friends saw me doing this, they'd probably laugh their as…well they laugh their heads off." Draco told Crissy.

He made a face as he discarded the dirty diaper. Crissy giggled and stuck her hand in her mouth. Once he had her all cleaned and dressed, he picked her up. Walking out the door he nearly ran into Granger.

"Oh sorry." She said looking tired. "I was just going to go check on her." She stepped out of the way so he could pass.

"No need, already taken care of." He said then looked at her from head to toe. "You look awful."

She scowled at him. "You try sleeping on that sofa for a night and you'd look and feel awful too." She ran a hand through her curly hair. "Since you already taken care of her, do you think you can handle feeding her as well while I take a shower?" she said yawning.

"I guess, but hurry up I need to leave soon."

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked sounding worried.

"I have quidditch practice today."

"Oh right I forgot. Well I'll make it quick." Hermione began to walk passed him, but paused to run her hand through Crissy's curls. "Morning Crissy." Then continued to walk towards the bedroom.

Draco tensed when Hermione got near, for some reason he thought she was about to reach out and touch him, but when her hand went to Crissy instead he found himself being…disappointed? This didn't make sense. He could smell the jasmine scent coming off her skin and it lingered in the hallway as she passed him. He shook his head trying to clear his bizarre thoughts and made his way into the kitchen to feed Crissy breakfast.

Hermione felt awful. Why did they choose that sofa anyway? It was the most uncomfortable piece of furniture she had ever laid on. She let the hot water run down her achy bones and sore muscles. Maybe she was getting sick. Her head hurt, she was exhausted but couldn't sleep, she was hungry one minute and vomiting the next.

She completely forgot that Malfoy had practice today, now she would have to take care of Crissy by herself. Which wouldn't be a horrible thing. But it wouldn't be easy especially if she's sick.

Once Hermione was dressed she walked into the kitchen to find Malfoy feeding Crissy mashed carrots, making flying noises. Crissy seemed to be enjoying it and she actually managed to eat what he was feeding her instead of wearing it all over her face and clothes.

"How is it that you're better at getting her to eat then I am?" she said leaning against the counter watching them.

"Don't look so shocked Granger; you can't be perfect at everything."

"I never said I was perfect at everything."

"No you never said it. But you got to admit that if you don't know how to do something, you study books and other materials until you have it down pact. This is why most people dubbed you with the unfortunate nickname the 'know-it-all.'"

"Yeah maybe, but people also call me the brightest witch of our generation. That's got to count for something."

He rolled his eyes at her, "if you say so Granger."

Hermione looked around the kitchen, when her eyes landed on Draco's quidditch robes lying on the dining table.

She drummed her fingers on the countertop. "If you're a professional quidditch player, I wonder what I do for a living?" she asked even though mainly she was just thinking out loud.

"Well, what did you want to be when you grew up?" he asked concentrating on feeding Crissy another spoonful of mashed carrots.

Hermione shrugged even though he wasn't looking at her. "I don't know. I guess I always saw myself working at the ministry or teaching maybe."

Draco placed the baby spoon in the now empty carrot jar and leaned back. "You can see yourself doing either of those things?" he asked skeptically. "What is that supposed to mean? What do you really want to do when you grow up?"

"I guess if I could have any dream job in the world. I would want to be a writer. And why are you all of sudden asking me all these personal questions anyway?

He raised his hands up. "Hey don't get full of yourself Granger, and besides need I remind you, you started it. And by the way if you really want to know what you do for a living, you should go over to the bookshelf and look." He said nodding towards the bookshelf in the living room.

She looked over her shoulder following his gaze, and then back at him arching an eyebrow in question.

"Just go over there and look. I'm surprised you didn't notice them earlier, since there are about eight books with your name on them."

"What?" Hermione walked over to the bookshelf and sure enough, there were eight novels sitting on the fourth shelf. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe this." She grinned and pulled one out to look at.

Hermione flipped it over and read the back. It was a non-fiction novel. She had always wanted to be a novelist, always writing random creative stories. But she was always afraid to show them to people, afraid they wouldn't like her writing. She flipped through the first couple of pages. She happened to flip to the dedication page. _This book is dedicated to my love, Draco._

She closed the book with a snap. That was weird. She put that book back and pulled out another and opened it. It was dedicated to him as well, not the same exact message, but one similar to it.

"What are you looking at in those?" Draco asked watching her from the kitchen.

"Nothing. I was just seeing what they were about. You know to see if I recognized anything that I've already written."

"Right." He said, sounding like he didn't believe her. "Well I gotta get going."

"Okay well…have fun." Hermione said walking back into the kitchen.

"Ha, it's okay Granger. You don't have to pretend like you care."

She rolled her eyes. "I just thought that maybe we could attempt to be somewhat civilized towards each other. Since we're stuck in this situation together."

He grabbed his robes and bag from the dining table. "No promises." He smirked.

"Yeah well I'm not holding my breath either." She mimicked his famous smirk back at him. "Just remember to watch what you say. I don't think we should say anything to anyone about our situation until we know exactly what's going on."

"Yeah, I'll do my best, I don't want anyone to think I'm mad or anything." He leaned in to kiss Crissy on the forehead. "Bye Princess, see you later."

Crissy waved bye-bye with her hand.

Hermione was dumbstruck. She didn't think she would ever see the day when Draco Malfoy would be openly affectionate towards something, without being crude. Yeah he held Crissy yesterday and played with her, but that was it. Even though it was just the three of them it was still weird…but sweet, to see him be so tender with her.

He turned towards Hermione almost as an afterthought, "See ya." Then apparated out of the kitchen.

Once Malfoy was gone, Hermione turned towards Crissy. "Well it looks like it's just you and me now. What should we do today?"

She went over to clean the carrot mush that was all over Crissy face and fingers. Then went to the refrigerator to get breakfast for herself. She wasn't terribly hungry, but she needed to eat something since she didn't eat much the day before. She scanned the shelves, nothing looked or sounded good. Then her eyes landed on a jar of pickles. She hated pickles, but for some reason they were calling her name and she had the urge to try one.

Hermione took the jar out and opened the lid. She pulled one out, thinking how she always hated the sour taste of them and couldn't stand the slimy yet crunchy texture they had. She took a hesitant bite and rolled her eyes in ecstasy. It tasted like heaven. It was exactly what she had been craving all day. She popped the whole thing in her mouth, savoring it until the last bite. She then took another, then another.

She didn't know why she had never liked them before, now she was eating them as if they were candy. She took the jar with her as she looked through the cabinets. She noticed that they were getting short on food. The cereal box was more than half empty. The milk was almost gone. Crissy had only two baby food jars left. She looked down at her jar of pickles and noticed that they were all gone now too. And other various foods needed to be bought or replaced.

Hermione set her now empty jar of pickles down and grabbed a notepad and pen and starting making a list of all the things they needed. Malfoy got to leave the house for the day, who says she couldn't either. Crissy and her were going to make an outing to the grocery store today. She went ahead and added other various toiletries that were needed on the list as well.

Once she had Crissy changed and ready to go, Hermione was about to leave when she remembered she needed some sort of diaper bag for Crissy in case she had an accident or needed something to eat and whatnot. She found a large back that had large pockets and lots of storage; there were already extra diapers, baby wipes, baby powder, a pacifier, and toys to entertain her with inside it. So she went ahead and added some snacks and bottles of formula or juice to it as well. Then grabbed her purse, wand and grocery list.

She was about to apparate out, but then thought differently. First she didn't know exactly where they were or where the nearest store was. And second she couldn't just apparate to a muggle store, especially if she didn't know where she was going. And thirdly she has never apparated with a baby before, sure it was possible, but she was afraid to take that risk and what if Crissy didn't like it?

Hermione walked out the kitchen through a door she hadn't been through before. This certainly looked like your everyday muggle house, surely it had a garage attached to it and maybe even a car. She walked in to what appeared to be the laundry room and on the other side it led to the garage, just as she expected. She walked in and found that they had two cars. One was a black sports car, most likely that was Malfoy's, if he even knew how to drive. She highly doubted it. The other car was a minivan. It figures, once you become a parent, sometimes you have to give up style in order to be practical.

She just prayed that the van had a car seat for Crissy. Once Crissy was buckled in, Hermione grabbed the keys and made sure she had money for groceries and did a double check to make sure she didn't miss anything. And just to be safe she jotted down their address, just in case they got lost along the way or coming back.

It turned out that they actually lived in a neighborhood, where they had actual neighbors, instead of being in the middle of nowhere. But fortunately the houses weren't that close together, giving them enough space for privacy, but not being completely isolated either. The store wasn't far and she managed to get everything on her list. She also shamefully got five more jars of pickles…they were on sale and that's the story she was sticking with.

By the time they got back home, it was time for Crissy's nap. Once Hermione finally got her to sleep, she went back to the kitchen to make herself a ham sandwich for lunch. She took the sandwich with a side of pickles into the living room and flipped on the telly, keeping the volume down so she wouldn't wake Crissy.

Hermione sat down in one of the arm chairs in the room, not wanting to sit on the sofa until she absolutely had to. She took a bite of her sandwich and tried to swallow it, but couldn't. She had to spit it out. It tasted horrible, like the meat went bad and was rotten. She took the top piece of bread off and hesitantly took a whiff of the meat. It smelled fine, but tasted awful. She took a small piece of ham and ate it, forcing herself to swallow it, which was a big mistake. He stomach rolled. She sat her plate on the coffee table, and braced her hands on her knees trying to breathe through her nose, to ease her queasiness.

She was feeling fine only seconds ago. Maybe she was having a bad reaction to the pickles that she practically inhaled for breakfast. She stood quickly and made her way to the bathroom, getting that panicky feeling that she gets when she's about to vomit, but doesn't want to.

After throwing up her entire breakfast and what little lunch she had, she felt marginally better. Once she brushed her teeth thoroughly and threw away what was left of her lunch.

Hermione went to the dining table where the pile of books were still sitting. She sorted through them trying to find one to study, nothing really looked interesting. At the bottom of the pile she found one book called, _What to Expect when you're Expecting_. What would a book like that be in this pile of parenting books? They already had Crissy, why would they need a book on pregnancy?

She couldn't be pregnant again…could she? There was no way that she could be pregnant with Malfoy's baby. It was too weird to think about. The random bouts of sickness were nothing, just food poisoning or the flu…not morning sickness. She ran a hand down her flat belly. Yeah it was absolutely impossible. She put the book back in the bottom of the pile so she wouldn't see it.

She didn't know what to expect here, and she felt totally unprepared which scared the hell out of here. She grabbed a glass of water and some crackers to nibble on. Maybe it will help settle her stomach. She watched some more TV just trying to relax.

She was about to fall asleep when she heard Crissy getting fussy. Hermione went and got Crissy and brought her into the kitchen. She put her in her highchair so she could feed her a snack. She went and got some cereal and poured a few pieces onto her tray to nibble on, and filled one of her bottles with some juice.

Hermione decided that even though it was still fairly early, that she would start preparing something for dinner. She had no idea what time Malfoy would be back, but surely he would be back before nightfall. She decided to make pot roast, because it took time cook and frankly it was one of the only things she knew how to make. Give her a potions assignment any day, but cooking was a different story. Once she put everything together, she put it in the oven to cook it low and slow and set the timer.

It was such a nice day out. Hermione decided to spend some time outdoors while they waited for dinner to cook. They had a really spacious fenced in backyard, with flowerbeds full of colorful blooming flowers. She made sure Crissy's fair skin would be protected from the late afternoon sun, so she slathered on some sunblock and made sure Crissy wore a hat. Hermione changed into a tank top and some shorts; she secured her hair up in a knot so it was off her neck. She found an old blanket and brought it out to lie on, along with some of Crissy's toys including her dragon and Hermione picked up on of the novels she wrote to read as well as some parchment and a quill so she could brainstorm more ideas on how they got here in the first place, and what options they had to try to get back.

It was just the right temperature outside, not to hot and not too chilly. She loved this backyard. She could picture someday having a children's playground set off to the side, or maybe a tree house or a tire swing on the giant oak tree that shaded half the yard. Hermione gave up on trying to think, she was getting to distracted so she laid on her back on the blanket in the shade of the tree as she watched Crissy play with a set of alphabet blocks.

Draco was exhausted after practice. Fortunately practice was held just like he was used to at Hogwarts on the Slytherins team. Running drills over and over, conditioning, building up strength, flying laps at different speeds. Luckily the team was learning a new play so he wasn't the only one who was a little lost when they practiced strategies. He already knew some of his teammates from watching them play on the Ballycastle Bats from years before, most he's never seen or heard of before. Thank Merlin each teammate had their last name printed on their robes otherwise he would have been calling everyone by 'hey you.'

He was ready to get home and take a nice hot shower. Home, he never thought of that word as being something special. Home was just a place he lived, where his father lived. In a cold, dark, dank manor. But thinking of home now, meant something more, something warm and inviting, a place he actually could see himself enjoying being at. He shook his head to clear it.

The home he was thinking about was fake, make believe. A place where Granger was at, which was rubbish. If he had any say in this he would want to go home to someone who was…well someone who wasn't Granger or someone who wasn't everything he had been taught to hate.

Damn-it he didn't want to think about any of this, he just wanted to get back, take a shower and eat a nice dinner. Although he was excited to see Crissy. He never pictured himself having children or even liking them. Yet he wasn't sure why but that curly haired bundled brought a smile to his face every time he saw her or thought of her.

He apparated, picturing their midsize kitchen inside their moderate house. Draco arrived with a pop. He could smell something strange, like a burning smell. He looked around, nothing was on fire. He was about to call out for Granger when he saw her through the window lying out under a large oak tree. Crissy was crawling besides her with a look of joy upon her face as she was giggling.

Granger's legs and arms were bare, reminding him of how she looked when they awakened the other day. Her feet were bare too and for some reason he found that very appealing. Her hair was piled up in a knot on top her head. He forgotten how many times his fingers twitched to remove the clip keeping her hair in place. He didn't understand why she kept her hair so long only to tie it back.

He stepped out the door leading to the backyard. Granger was now lying on her side, facing away from him so she didn't see him enter the backyard. He could hear her playing peek-a-boo with Crissy. Crissy climbed on top of Granger, holding onto her waist for balance. He could hear Granger's laughter as she encouraged Crissy to stand up as she help supported her with her hand.

Crissy looked up and saw him approaching, "Dada!" she squealed happily.

Hermione looked over her shoulder to see Draco watching them. She pushed a stray hair out of her face and sat up.

"You're back."

He nodded, "are you cooking something in there or burning the house down?" he said jerking his head towards the house.

She became alert. "Oh no the roast. I opened the windows so I would hear the timer go off. Will you watch her for a second?" Hermione said standing up and ran bare foot across the lawn into the house.

Draco went over and picked up Crissy from the blanket, then followed Granger back into the house. He walked into the kitchen just as she was pulling out a black charred piece of something, he couldn't tell.

"Well there goes dinner." Hermione said huffing out a sigh in defeat.

"Why don't we just order something instead? Isn't that what muggles do?"

"Sometimes." She sighed. "Yah okay. What do you want to eat?"

"I don't care, just something edible if you don't mind." Draco said setting Crissy in her play-pin. "You can choose. Meanwhile I'm going to take a shower." He walked down the hall towards the bedroom.

I think I liked it better when he wasn't here, Hermione thought to herself. What did she feel like eating tonight? She went over to the kitchen counter and looked through a pile of takeout menus they've collected over the years. A Chinese takeout menu was on top and her stomach growled in hunger. Chinese it is then.

Luckily they delivered, so she didn't have to leave. She found a telephone and dialed their number. While it rang she looked over the menu, thinking just about everything sounded good. After she hung up, she realized that she ordered enough food to feed a family of five if not more. But in her defense, she was really hungry and she barely had anything to eat for lunch. And she didn't know what Malfoy liked or didn't like, so she needed options.

As she waited for the food to arrive, she discarded the burnt pot roast. Then started preparing Crissy's dinner. She looked around for her purse to pay the delivery man. It wasn't in the kitchen or the living room. She then realized that she left it in the bedroom when she went and changed clothes earlier. The delivery man was due any moment and Malfoy was taking a shower. Maybe she could just run in there really fast, grab her purse and get out.

She made sure Crissy would be okay as she ran to the bedroom for a few seconds. She walked down the hallway towards the bedroom. The door was shut and she wasn't sure if she should knock or just walk in. she pressed her ear to the door and listened for any sound. She didn't hear anything so maybe he was still in the shower.

She opened the door slowly, calling out to Malfoy telling him she needed her purse. No one answered so she peeked her head through the door and looked around. He was still in the bathroom, thank god. She walked into the room, looking around for her purse. She spotted it sitting on top the dresser next to the bathroom door. She rushed over to get it just as Malfoy stepped out of the bathroom door, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist.

Hermione tripped over her own feet and her body pitched forward, nearly colliding into him. Draco reached out just in time and caught her around her arms. His hands easily fit around her arms and his strength easily kept her from falling.

The second his hands touched her bare skin, electric sizzles shot down her limbs all the way to the tips of her toes. Goosebumps raised on her skin against the warmth coming from his hands. Her nose was only inches away from his bare chest. It took everything in her power not to inhale his spicy scent, which was only more intense against his damp skin.

"Watch it Granger."

If she wasn't mistaken, she could have sworn that his voice sounded huskier, but then again she couldn't hear much except the pounding of her heart. "S…sorry. I um…I just uh needed to get my purse." She straighten up and looked everywhere except at him.

"Okay…" he drawled out.

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he let go of her arms. She suddenly felt disappointed that he was no longer touching her. This was crazy and stupid. Draco stepped away from her and she reached and grabbed her purse just as the doorbell rang.

"That would be the food." Hermione took her purse and practically ran out the door.

Shutting the door behind her she could hear Malfoy laughing. Merlin she was so lame. It not like she hadn't seen him undressed before. Just yesterday morning she woke up to him wearing nothing but boxers. He probably thought she was some blushing, inexperienced school girl…which okay she was, but he would never find out just how inexperienced she is.

She paid the delivery man and took the food into the dining room. Removing the food containers out of the bag, when Malfoy came in thankfully wearing a t-shirt and jeans, his feet were bare. He picked Crissy up out of her play-pin and set her in her highchair, which Hermione moved closer to the table.

Draco took one of the containers and opened it, taking a hesitant whiff of its contents. "What is all of this?"

"Chinese food. I didn't know what you liked so I got a little bit of everything."

"I can see that." He said taking in all the containers set on the table, but he wasn't complaining because he was starving and it smelled pretty good.

Draco silently chewed on some fried rice as he watched Granger practically inhale more than half of the food she ordered.

"Jeeze Granger are you eating for two or something? I don't even think I've seen Weasley eat as much as you are in one setting."

Hermione's face instantly lost all color and a look of worry replaced it. She dropped her fork on the plate and stared at the food still left.

"You're not going to get sick again are you?" he asked recognizing the look on her face when she got sick yesterday morning.

"No," she whispered and pushed her plate away.

Damn-it, now he felt guilty. "Relax Granger. I was just joking. Eat as much as you want, the fewer leftovers we have the better. I wasn't trying to make a jab at your eating habits or calling you fat or anything. I never pictured you as one of those girls who get self-conscious about what and how much they eat."

"I'm not. I didn't really eat lunch today and I guess I was hungrier then I thought I was. But I'm full now." She said gathering up the empty food containers. "How did you're practice go?" she asked obviously trying to take the attention off her.

He went along with it, not really interested in learning about Grangers eating habits anyway. "Fine. It was a lot similar to practicing at Hogwarts on the house teams. So it was pretty easy to get into the swing of things."

"Good. Do you think anyone suspected anything?"

"We didn't discuss anything personal, just game strategies."

She nodded, and then focused on trying to get Crissy to eat a spoonful of mashed peas. "Do you have practice tomorrow?"

"Yeah, but it's a shorten day, so I'll only be gone for a couple of hours."

Hermione laid the spoon she was feeding Crissy with on her tray. Crissy choose that moment to pick up the spoon and fling her little arms about tapping the spoon against her tray. Making loud tapping noises with it. Unfortunately as she did that, Crissy managed to splatter smashed peas in her hair and all over her arms.

Hermione sighed. "I think Crissy definitely needs a bath before we put her to bed tonight."

Draco nodded. "Yah you're probably right." He said taking the empty food containers and putting them in the trash. "How do we do that?" he asked.

"One of the books said that at this age it's okay to wash her in the bathtub, since she can sit up on her own. But it's best to have two people there, one to wash while the other supports her upright and makes sure she doesn't fall over just as a precaution. "

"I'll hold her up. You wash."

"Okay." Hermione said bringing the leftover food and putting it in the refrigerator.

Draco came up behind her and looked in. "Why are there five jars of pickles in there?"

Hermione blushed. "They were on sale at the store."

"I hate pickles." He muttered.

He was so close to her she could feel his breath on the back of her neck, causing the goose bumps to raise up on her skin. She shut the door and side stepped out of his personal space. What was wrong with her? She couldn't get within six inches from him without her body reacting in some way. He apparently was completely oblivious of her reactions to him, for he went over and picked up Crissy.

"Time to get you all cleaned up." He said to Crissy as he tickled her tummy.

Once Hermione finished cleaning the kitchen from their dinner she followed Malfoy into the bathroom next to Crissy's nursery. It was clearly the place where they bathed her before since the tub was full of bath toys. Draco took Crissy into the nursery to remove her clothes and diaper, while Hermione filled the tub with water. She needed to make sure that the water wasn't too hot or too cold.

Draco walked in with a naked Crissy in his arms. Hermione couldn't help but grin at the sight of Malfoy holding a naked baby. It was so…cute.

"What?" he asked.

She shook her head, covering her mouth as she giggled. "Nothing." She grinned even wider.

Draco adjusted his hold on Crissy, with one hand under her arm and the other under her naked bum. "Spit it out Granger."

"It's nothing I swear." She stifled another giggle that threaten to emerge.

He arched an eyebrow at her.

"It's just you might want to be careful, you wouldn't want her to pee on you." She was just joking but she couldn't tell him that the thought of him and a naked Crissy made an absolutely adorable image, she would never forget it.

His eyes widen then looked at Crissy. "She wouldn't dare?"

Crissy blinked up at him with her large chocolate brown, then gave him a goofy grin and reached out and grabbed his nose and giggled. He smiled and shook his head laughing. It was the first time Hermione had seen Malfoy truly smile without his infamous smirk. He actually had dimples in each cheek when he smiled like that. And she found herself really enjoying the sound of his laugh, when he wasn't being mean or condescending. Which is what she normally heard in his laughter, this was different, it was full of joy and happiness.

Clearing her thoughts she spoke up, "The waters ready." She reached out to take Crissy from him.

Once she had her, Hermione lowered her into the warm water. Draco kneeled down next to Hermione on the floor to help support Crissy so she wouldn't fall over. Crissy grabbed a rubber ducky that was floating next to her and began to chew on it, while kicking her legs in the water making it splash.

Hermione grabbed the baby soap and began to lather it into a soft washcloth. While Draco distracted Crissy by entertaining her with her toys. Crissy slapped her hands against the water, splashing everything around her as she giggled. Draco was no help at all; in fact he was encouraging Crissy to splash the water.

"You're setting a bad example for her." Hermione muttered to him.

"Me? She's having fun. How is that setting a bad example?" He dipped his hand in the water and purposely flicked the water on his fingertips in Hermione's face.

She scowled at him as she wiped her cheek on her arm. "Because she could splash the soapy water into her eyes and get upset."

"It says right there on the bottle, _will not sting eyes_."

"That still doesn't mean it wouldn't be uncomfortable if it did happen."

"Relax Granger. She's having fun. You should try not being so serious all the time." Flicking water onto her face again.

"I'm not serious all the time."

"Oh yeah? Prove it." He taunted her.

Before she thought better of it, she threw the water soaked soapy washcloth at his face. It slipped down his face and onto his shirt leaving a wet trail. A look of stunned shock came across his face and Hermione couldn't help but laugh. His stunned expression turned into a smirk.

"Now who's setting a bad example?"

She shrugged innocently, "It slipped." She smiled sweetly, and then broke out into a fit of giggles.

Seconds later he joined in and laughed along with her. Once they got their laughing under control, Hermione cleared her throat; she hadn't laughed that much in a long time.

"I think we should finish up here before the water gets too cold."

He nodded in agreement.

Draco watched as Hermione gently lathered Crissy's hair with shampoo. Her cheeks were rosy from the laughter they shared. The steam from the water made the wisps of hair around her nape curl at the ends. And her skin almost had a kind of glow about it, making her eyes stand out. She bit her lip in concentration. All the laughter left him as he continued to stare at her face and more specifically her mouth.

"Malfoy?"

Damn-it, she was talking to him and he wasn't paying attention, instead he was wondering what it would be like to kiss her. "What?"

Being completely oblivious of his staring she kept her focus on Crissy. "Can you cover her eyes, while I rinse the shampoo out?"

"Yeah sure." He returned his focus back to Crissy as well and gently covered her eyes.

Hermione carefully poured water over her head from a cup. Crissy didn't like that very much and started to squirm and fuss, trying to get out of the way. Hermione leaned forward and Draco did as well trying to still Crissy. Hermione held a hand against Crissy's chest to hold her still. And Draco managed to rinse out the rest of the shampoo.

Draco was well aware of how close Granger was to him. He could feel her hair tickling beneath his chin. He suspected that she didn't realize yet just how much she was in his personal space. He could smell the jasmine scent coming either from her shampoo or perfume, he couldn't tell. He should move back, but he couldn't bring himself to do that.

"Are you finis…" Hermione turned her head and almost collided into his nose.

He still didn't move. Instead he glanced down at her lips again. All he had to do was lower his head an inch and he would be kissing her.

She pulled back quickly. "Um…I'm…uh I'll just get a towel." She stuttered and stood up and walked out the bathroom probably so she could run away from him.

At least he knew she felt something there as well. But it was probably fortunate that she ran away. It was the smart thing to do. She wasn't right for him and the last thing he needed was to get involved with her. He reached inside the tub to pull the drain. Then scrubbed a hand down his face.

He's only been here for two days and already this situation was messing with his head. He just hoped it wouldn't last much longer or he was bound to do something he might truly regret.


	4. Chapter 4: Pink is for Positive

Chapter Four: Pink is for Positive

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione had another sleepless night. She was exhausted. Draco left for practice a couple of hours ago and was due home soon, or so she hoped. Because she wanted desperately to take a nap like Crissy. Her mind kept going back to that one book she set at the bottom of the pile. The one about pregnancy.

She put it there because she thought it would be impossible for her to be pregnant, and honestly she didn't want to think about it. So she hid it away. But that is all she could think of now. And the more she thought about it, the more possible it seemed.

After she put Crissy down for her nap, Hermione went to the dining table and took the book out. Taking it into the living room, she opened it and started to read. It wouldn't be a horrible thing if she was pregnant. Being pregnant is a huge deal. There are all kinds of precautions that expecting mothers need to take, to ensure that their unborn babies are safe and healthy. What if Hermione had a drink or something, she hadn't of course, but she could have done something really bad without realizing it.

Her head was starting to hurt. She looked over one of the pages listing symptoms to look for when you're expecting; exhaustion and fatigue, check, weird food carvings, check, frequent nausea, check, heighten sense of smell, um maybe? She was all too aware of how good Malfoy smelled. She wasn't experiencing every single symptom they listed, but she had at least 85% of them checked off.

But still, it could mean anything or nothing…right? She was afraid to find out. Maybe she should wait until Malfoy got home to discuss this. Of course what would he be able to do about it? Either she was or wasn't pregnant. And if she was it wouldn't be like she could just make it go away.

She was only 18 years old, or at least she was 18 years old three days ago. She's an 18 year old stuck in a 23 year olds body. The point is, she wasn't ready for this. Having Crissy was one thing, but to have an actual baby? Ugh her stomach rolled, she had a feeling she was about to be sick again. Crissy by herself was a handful…a wonderful, joyful little thing, but a handful nonetheless.

Hermione walked out the bathroom, wiping a hand over her mouth. She really hated this constant sickness thing going on. She saw Draco looking through the refrigerator. He looked over his shoulder and saw her, then frowned.

"Did you get sick again?" he asked.

She nodded; suddenly feel nervous, how was she supposed to tell him what she thought?

"Maybe you should go see a doctor or something?" he said turning back to look through the fridge.

"I need to tell you something." She whispered her voice sounding and feeling raw and horse.

He wasn't paying attention or maybe he didn't hear her.

"Malfoy?" He still didn't acknowledge her. "Draco!" she said a bit louder.

He turned and looked at her then.

"I need to tell you something."

"What?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

She took a deep breath, there was no other way to say this and she didn't know if he would even take it well. "I think I'm pregnant."

He looked at her shocked, and then skimmed his eyes down her body and back up. "You don't look pregnant."

She rolled her eyes at him, "Well obviously I'm not that far along."

"And what makes you think that?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, I'm always hungry and nauseous, the smell of coffee and other various foods make me sick. I'm exhausted all the time and my jeans don't fit."

"Maybe you're just getting fat." He smirked.

Ugh, he could be such an ass sometimes, no scratch that, he's an ass all the time. "It's going to sound stupid and I can't really explain it but…I just know."

"Well how can you possibly be? We've never…" He gestured to her.

"No duh Malfoy! We've only been here for three days, but anything could have happened before that. Besides we already have one child together in this messed up future. It's not exactly out of the realm of possibilities."

He sighed and raked a hand through his hair. "Well how do we go about finding out if you really are or not?"

She sat at the edge of the tub. Tapping her fingers nervously against her knees, she just knew the timer she set was about to go off. Because she had been anxiously waiting for it to, but at the same time terrified to look.

A knock sounded at the door. "Granger? Are you okay in there?" Malfoy asked.

Hermione didn't answer him, just kept nervously tapping her fingers. Seconds later the ding of the timer went off. She stood up on shaky legs and reached for the stick. Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to look. Behind her she heard the door to the bathroom open, then close. Footsteps walked up behind her. She didn't turn around. Draco came up behind her, not touching her but close enough that she could feel the heat of his body seeping into her back fighting off the goose bumps that suddenly rose up along her arms.

"What does it say?" He whispered into her ear.

Under normal circumstances she would have thought he did that to annoy her and prove that he could get to her no matter how much she tried to fight off her attraction to him. But he sounded almost nervous, like he was worried about the answer just as much as she was.

She took a deep breath. "It's pink, which means positive. Which means I am pregnant." She bit her lip not knowing what to say other than that.

He didn't say anything either, just stood there, so close to her she was trying desperately hard not to lean back that last couple of inches and lean against his chest. It's not like the news was a shock to her, but she still felt like she needed to be comforted. She was about to step away from him so they were no longer in each other's personal space, when his arms reached around her and his hands splayed across her still flat belly.

Hermione was so startled by this she forgot to breathe. She didn't know what to do except stay frozen like a statue. Afraid to move, afraid to speak. What was he doing? Draco pulled her back against him, so he could rest his chin on her shoulder, keeping his hands on her belly.

"We made a baby together." He whispered in awe.

It was so softly, she thought she might have heard him wrong. Hermione didn't know what to say to that. She willed herself to relax a little in his surprised, yet intimate embrace. He started stroking his hands over her belly.

She should have slapped his hands away and step away from him, separating them as far away as possible. But she couldn't will her feet to move; instead she melted even more into his embrace. Her body obviously was not cooperating with her mind.

"Do you think it's a boy or a girl?"

His question brought her out of her internal battle. "Uh, I don't know. Right now it's probably the size of a lima bean maybe smaller. So it's probably difficult to know for sure."

He continued to stroke her belly. "I hope it's a boy. That way we'll have one of each. But it would be amazing to have another little girl as well."

She snorted. She couldn't help it. This was so unreal, unbelievably sweet and adorable, but unreal.

"What?" he asked dropping his hands and stepping away.

Her body and if she was being honest with herself her mind instantly missed his arms around her. She tried not to think about how he would react if she stepped back to him and laid her head against his chest. But instead she stayed where she was.

She shook her head, "It's just your taking this really well."

"Why wouldn't I?" he looked annoyed, like it was a stupid question to ask him.

"Three days ago we got stuck here and you flipped out when you discovered we were married to each other." She shrugged. "I'm just surprised you're taking it so well."

Draco ran a hand over his slightly stubbled jaw. "It's not every day you find out you fathered a child."

"What if it's not even yours?" She asked jokingly, but then immediately regretted it when she saw the look in his eyes, which turned angry.

"What are you saying Granger?"

"I was just kidding Malfoy. Chill out."

"Despite what you think of me Granger, I would never cheat. When I'm with a woman, she's the only one I'm with."

"And I respect that Malfoy. I would never cheat either; it goes against everything I believe in. But think about it, we despise each other, loathe, hate even. We've done horrible things to each other in the past. Do you honestly think we could ever truly be happy with each other?"

Hermione honestly meant it as a joke, and she didn't really think it would take it so seriously. She didn't even know why she was defending herself or him. But she meant what she said; she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she cheated on someone, especially if she was a married woman.

He looked at her for several seconds, like he was thinking about what she just said. "I don't' know Granger." Draco said in a low monotone voice, devoid of all emotion, then turned and walked out the door.

Hermione shouldn't have, but she did, she felt confused by his comment. She was just being honest. Given all their history with each other, it was just a recipe for disaster. How could they both just forgive and forget and live happily ever after? It didn't make sense. And if they were back in Hogwarts, he would be his usual self, insulting her, calling her mudblood, and constantly making her life hell. But here he was acting like maybe he actually cared…well some of the time.

Like last night when they were giving Crissy a bath, for a brief second she thought he was about to kiss her. But she pulled away before anything would've happened. She was saving both of them from accidently doing something stupid and getting caught up in the moment. Or so she kept trying to tell herself. And then just now when he was holding her, happy that she was pregnant.

She still didn't understand why he got so upset when she made the comment about the baby not being his? Maybe somebody cheated on him before and it left him scarred for life? Unfortunately he was right when he told her he would never cheat. She kind of assumed he would be the type to do that just based on his reputation alone. He wasn't nickname the Slytherin sex god for nothing. He had a reputation for dating lots of different girls during the school term; even a few Gryffindor's if the rumors were true.

Did he really believe they could be together and be happy? When he told her that he didn't know if they could be happy together, it seemed like he was just as confused as she was about all of this. Whether this 'future' of theirs was real or not. They or the 'future them' seemed to be living a very pleasant, happy life together.

Hermione rubbed her belly without thinking about it. They just needed to figure out how to get back to their original lives and soon.

She walked into the kitchen to a sight that would have women all over the world swoon. A man and baby. Hermione still couldn't get used to the idea of Malfoy holding a baby so tenderly. Draco stood by the refrigerator, pulling out a bottle of baby formula, and then popped it into the microwave, while holding Crissy, their daughter like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Crissy looked very content, cradled in Draco's arms, laying her head on his shoulder looking sleepy, still waking up from her nap. Hermione stood outside the kitchen just watching. This was a completely different Draco then the one she grew up with. As if he could sense her staring, he turned and caught her eye.

She dropped her eyes and walked into the kitchen. "What is she doing up?"

"She was getting fussy, so I went ahead and took her out of her crib." He said, taking the bottle out of the microwave and shook it up.

Crissy turned her head and when she saw Hermione reached out her tiny arms to her, "Mama" she squealed still resting her head on Draco's shoulder.

Hermione walked over and ran her hand over Crissy's blonde curls. Crissy reached out to her again, this time practically climbing out of Draco's arms. Hermione caught her before she literally wiggled to the ground. Crissy instantly nestled herself in Hermione's arms and laid her head on her chest and sighed. Hermione sighed too, she was never going to get used to that. She looked up and caught Draco staring at her.

He tried to cover it up by clearing his throat and handing her the bottle. "Here, it should be the right temperature now."

"Thanks," Hermione said, almost feeling shy now and adjusted her arms so she could accept the bottle.

"Are you sure you don't want to feed her?"

"Nah, you're holding her now, so you might as well do it." Just then an owl tapped on the window, "I'll get that." Draco said as he turned from them and walked to the window, opening it and accepting the letter that a gray owl held in its beak.

Hermione didn't recognize the owl, but maybe Malfoy did. She watched him open it and started to read it. Crissy started to grab for the bottle, so Hermione gave it to her. Luckily Crissy was old enough to hold it on her own, otherwise she would have to adjust her hold on her and Hermione didn't want to since Crissy looked comfortable the way she was.

Hermione turned her attention back to Draco who was reading the letter. "Who is it from?"

He looked up from the letter, "Blaise."

"Zabini?" she asked.

He smirked, "Who else?"

She shrugged then smiled. "What does it say?"

"Apparently we're supposed to have dinner with them tonight at 6:00pm."

"Them?" she was getting a bad feeling about this.

"Blaise and Pansy."

"Great dinner with Pansy Parkinson and Blaise Zabini can't wait." Hermione said sarcastically. "Maybe I'll just stay here with you." She said to Crissy, bending down to kiss her forehead.

"Actually it asks for both of us to attend…darling." He said the last part with fake tenderness.

She made a face at him.

"Hey apparently you forced me to hang out with Potter and Weasley. So it's only fair that you be forced to hang out with my friends."

"What? Why would you think that?"

Draco pointed to a picture hanging on the refrigerator. She stepped closer to look at it; sure enough it was a picture of Draco standing with Harry and Ron drinking butter beer. All smiling for the camera. She shook her head, weird.

"Oh and just so you know Pansy was one of your bridesmaids in our wedding. So I'm sure you two are very close now." He crossed his arms leaning against the window all smug.

"Oh? And were Harry and Ron part of your groomsmen?"

Malfoy's smug smile faltered into a scowl, which made her smile.

"How do you even know who was in our bridal party anyway?" she asked him.

"There's a photo album in the living room."

"Super." She said under her breath, this crazy alternative universe they were in just kept getting more and more real. "So what are we going to do with her then?" She nodded towards Crissy, who was watching them talk back and forth with big chocolate brown eyes.

He shrugged, "We could just take her with us."

Hermione shook her head, "It will be past her bedtime. And where are we having dinner anyway?"

"Vinny's whatever that is." He said looking at the letter.

Hermione had heard of the place before and if she wasn't mistaken it was a fancy Italian restaurant, probably not the best place to take a baby. "Do you think we have a sitter that watches her?"

"A sitter?" he asked looking confused.

"You know a babysitter, someone to watch over her while we're gone."

He snapped his fingers, "I know the perfect thing, Ziggy."

A house elf appeared in the kitchen with a pop at the mention of her name. "Mr. Malfoy." She acknowledged Draco then turned to Hermione. "Mrs. Malfoy."

Hermione just smiled at the house elf, a little taken back by being called Mrs. Malfoy.

Crissy reached out her hand, "Zizi" At least their daughter knew who this was.

"What can Ziggy do for you?"

"We're going out to dinner tonight with Pansy and Blaise. Can you watch over Crissy while we're gone?" Draco asked.

Hermione rushed over to his side and whispered, "Do you think that's a good idea?"

He looked over at her and whispered low, "Ziggy helped raise me when I was a baby."

Hermione arched an eyebrow, "And that's supposed to make me feel better?"

Draco ignored her comment. "I trust Ziggy with my life. Crissy will be in good hands."

She still felt uncertain about this.

Draco looked her in the eyes. "Trust me?"

She bit her lip, and then rolled her eyes at him, "Fine."

"Good." He smirked at her then bent down and kissed Crissy on the top of her head, while Hermione was still holding her.

She didn't want to think about how close he was. She could smell his aftershave and the shampoo he used and it was making her knees ridiculously wobbly. And she had a feeling he was starting to catch on to her stupid girly reactions to him when he did things like this.

He took Crissy from her arms. "You should probably get ready. We should leave soon."

Hermione stood in their walk-in closet wearing only her bra and panties. She already tried on five dresses and none of them were fitting. She didn't think that she was that big. But now knowing she was pregnant she could see the tiny making of a baby bump. She wondered just how far along she was, she should probably make an appointment just to be safe.

She stood looking at her profile when she heard the bedroom door open. "Eek!" she squealed and tried to cover herself up when Draco walked into the closet and smirked. "Jeeze don't you know how to knock Malfoy?"

"It's my bedroom too, so I shouldn't have to knock." He looked at her clutching a dress to her body and grinned. "Why aren't you dressed yet?"

"I was in the process of getting dressed when you rudely walked in."

"Uh huh." Draco tilted his head as if studying her. "Nice knickers by the way. I wouldn't take you for a girl who likes to wear lace."

Hermione blushed and looked down at herself; she wasn't exposing anything, so how could he know…

"You do know your standing in front of the mirror, right?" He grinned wider when she glared at him.

"Get out of her Malfoy!"

Draco brought a hand over his chest. "But honey, you shouldn't be shy. It's not like I haven't already seen you naked before."

Hermione picked up a shoe, prepared to throw it at him. "Get out of here Malfoy!"

He held up his hands in mock surrender. "Fine. I have to take a shower anyway." He winked at her. "No peeking."

Hermione rolled her eyes and clutched the dress tighter to her body, until he was out of sight. She was trying on her ninth dress when he came back in the closet, wearing only a towel. It seemed to be a habit of his, parading around her in only towels or boxers. Dear Merlin, why did he have to look like that when she was feeling like a fat cow?

Draco looked over at her, "You're still not dressed?

She had a dress on but it wouldn't zip up. "Nothing fits, I'm thinking about giving up and just wearing sweat pants and a baggy shirt." She sighed in defeat.

He looked her up and down in her unzipped dress. "Turn around."

Her eyes shot wide, "What?"

"Turn around."

Hermione looked at him as if he'd gone mad.

Draco made a circular motion with his finger. "I'll help you zip the dress up."

"Really you don't have to; I'll just wear something else."

He stared at her with intensity until she reluctantly turned around feeling self-conscious because the zipper went half way down her bum. Before she could threaten him if he made some snarky comment, his warm fingers touched her back and started to pull the zipper up. Hermione couldn't breathe, not from the tightness of the dress, but because he was touching her and didn't seem repulsed by it and she liked it a lot.

Half way up the zipper became stubborn and wouldn't go up. "Just forget it, I'll wear something else." She tried to step away.

"No, I almost…there." With one final tug it was it was all the way zipped. "Can you breathe in it?"

Hermione took a test breath and found that she could and oddly enough, once it was zipped up all the way it didn't feel all that tight except a bit in the tummy area. "Thanks," she mumbled and stepped away from him.

Slipping on some black heels that matched her dress, she walked out to give him the privacy he didn't give her. She went to the bathroom to add last minute touches to her makeup and hair. Hermione was spraying on some perfume when Draco walked out fully dressed. He wore dark trousers and a white button down shirt, leaving the top buttons undone. The sight of him was doing something odd to her insides, for reasons she didn't want to think about. Maybe it was her raging pregnancy hormones? Maybe that was why she was suddenly started having random pangs of attraction towards him.

"You ready?"

She nodded then took one last look in the mirror and walked out.

They were in the kitchen giving Ziggy instructions, even though it seemed that Ziggy knew more about taking care of their daughter then they did. Once they had been assured that Ziggy would notify them immediately if anything happened to Crissy, they prepared to leave.

Crissy was in her highchair chewing on a teething ring. Hermione bent down to kiss her goodbye, the same time Draco bent down to do the same. Their eyes met and they both pulled back before they bumped heads.

Hermione blushed. "You go ahead."

The same time he said, "Ladies first."

When neither of them made a move, Draco finally bent down and kissed Crissy's chubby cheek.

"Goodnight princess."

When he pulled back Hermione took her turn. "Be good for Ziggy. We'll be back soon." She brushed the soft curls on her head.

Crissy reached out her hands towards Hermione. "Mama."

Hermione grabbed one of her hands and kissed her fingertips, then leaned in and kissed her cheek. "I love you too."

Hermione stood up and turned to Draco who was looking at her like he's never looked at her before. He gave her a soft smile, and then the look was gone. Replacing it with his signature smirk.

"Ready?"

She nodded and awkwardly touched her hand to his elbow as they apparated away.

They arrived with a pop in an empty alley way, not far from the restaurant. Hermione let go of Draco's arm immediately. Draco started walking out and brushed at his sleeve as if brushing away invisible dirt, where Hermione's hand had been.

Hermione stopped him before he walked out into the public sidewalk. "Wait Malfoy."

He looked back at her with annoyance expressed in his eyes. What happened to the Malfoy she saw back in their kitchen when they were saying goodbye to their daughter.

"What Granger? We're already running late."

She caught up to him, which wasn't easy in heels and a dress that was a tad too tight. "We need to remember not to say anything about us."

He let out an aggravated sigh. "I'm not stupid Granger I won't forget."

"Well hopefully neither one of them will question why we can't remember anything from the past six years or so. And maybe we shouldn't say anything about the whole me being pregnant and everything either?"

"Fine, now are you ready?"

She nodded and followed him out of the alley.

The walk from the alley to the restaurant wasn't far at all. Draco opened the door about to walk on in but hesitated and held the door open for Hermione, so she could go in first instead.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

She felt nervous about this dinner or maybe she was nauseous again, it was getting more difficult to tell. The last time she saw Blaise and Pansy was in the corridor at Hogwarts when Malfoy sent a tripping charm at her causing her to lose her footing and fall to the ground, scattering all of her school books. While the three of them just pointed and laughed at her. Her cheeks flushed remembering that humiliating incident.

They walked into the lobby and were immediately surrounded by the aroma of amazing Italian food and the clatter of silverware clinking against plates as the crowds talked softly among their parties. They stood there looking around the crowded restaurant, not quite sure what to do. Were Blaise and Pansy already there or we're they supposed to wait for them or go ahead and get a table?

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy?" the young hostess asked them.

"Yes?" Draco answered.

"Your party is already seated in the red room."

"Oh okay, thank you." Draco said as they followed the hostess to their table.

Hermione saw them immediately with Pansy's straight black hair and Blaise's dark coloring, they made a striking pair. They must have noticed them coming near and stood up as Hermione and Draco approached the table. Hermione stopped in her tracks, afraid to move closer.

They looked the same as they did in school, but older. Blaise was tall, had broad shoulders, and was filled out nicely with muscles. And Pansy had pale while skin, with a thin fit body, though she was a bit shorter then Hermione. They both had cold smirks on their faces.

Draco put his hand on the small of her back and urged her forward; he bent down and whispered in her ear. "Come on they won't bite."

When they got to the table Blaise and Pansy faces both broke out into smiles. Hermione was taken aback, she didn't think she had ever seen Blaise Zabini smile before, it was positively blinding. She stood there shocked; she didn't even realize Pansy came around the table to greet her.

Pansy gave out a squeal and squeezed Hermione in a tight hug then kissed both her cheeks. "Oh Hermione it's so good to see you. You look amazing tonight."

"You too." Hermione managed a smile and glanced over at Draco who was busy greeting Blaise.

"We didn't think you were going to make it. We thought maybe you two got sidetracked with each other and decided to spend the evening in each other's arms instead of joining us for dinner."

Hermione blushed, why would Blaise think something mad like that? She looked over at Draco who looked just as uncomfortable as she felt about that comment. Blaise gave him a wink and turned to her.

"Hermione you look beautiful as always." He bent forward and kissed her on the cheek like Pansy did earlier.

"Thanks," Hermione replied and blushed deeper.

They all took their seats.

"We had to make sure Crissy was taken care of, not to mention Gran…uh Hermione took at least 30 minutes trying to find something to wear tonight." Draco told Blaise and Hermione sent him a glare.

"I know what you mean. Pansy here is the same way. It must be programmed into women's minds to keep their men waiting while they prim and prep." Blaise laughed as Pansy whacked him on the arm playfully.

"Well you better get used to it because it's not going to stop anytime soon." Pansy said to Blaise.

The waiter came over and offered them the house wine. Pansy and Blaise accepted a glass, but Hermione passed and asked for water instead. Draco surprisingly enough went with water as well. Just because she couldn't drink didn't mean he had to hold out as well. But maybe it was for the best. They both needed to be on their guard so they wouldn't give away anything.

The waiter left them to browse through their menus. Pansy and Blaise exchanged a look with each other that Hermione didn't understand, and then they turned back to them with smiles on their faces.

"Are you pregnant?"

Hermione almost chocked on the water she just took a sip of. "Wh…what?" she said coughing and looked over at Draco who was equally surprised by that comment. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh come on. When you were pregnant with Crissy you obviously couldn't drink and Draco always felt bad drinking in front of you when you couldn't. So he would always order water, so you wouldn't feel left out."

"Oh? Is that so?" Hermione smirked over at Draco who just rolled his eyes and shrugged.

She smiled then looked in his eyes, silently asking him if they should tell them or not. He nodded, giving her the okay.

"We weren't going to say anything tonight but…"

Pansy squealed clapping her hands together. "Oh that is so exciting; Crissy will have a baby sister or brother."

"Congratulations mate." Blaise thumped Draco on the back.

"Thanks," Draco cleared his throat. "We just found out earlier today so we're still getting used to the news."

"Well you already have Crissy so your already pros when it comes to parenting." Pansy teased them, and then looked at Blaise. "Well we have some exciting news to share as well." She beamed, grabbing Blaise's hand who smiled back at her.

Pansy held up her left hand which displayed a large diamond on her ring finger. "We're getting married!"

"Oh wow, congratulations" Hermione said trying to sound sincere.

"Congratulations, three days ag…uh," Hermione kicked Draco under the table. "I mean it seems like just yesterday you were terrified just to ask her out on a date." Draco said.

"Ha yeah I know. I'm just relieved she said yes." Blaise said looking adoringly at Pansy.

"Like I would say no to you?" Pansy replied leaning over to kiss Blaise on the lips.

Once the two love birds separated Blaise turned back to Draco, "Will you be my best man?"

Draco grinned, "Of course mate, who else would you choose to stand next to you."

"And Hermione I want you to be my maid of honor." Pansy asked Hermione.

Hermione was completely taken by surprised. "Really? You want me to be your maid of honor?"

"Of course, who else would I pick?" Pansy beamed sounding sincere.

The whole table was looking at her, waiting for her answer. "Of course I will Pansy."

"Oh yeh!" Pansy squealed giving Hermione another hug. "I promise I won't be one of those crazy bridezilla's you see on the telly."

"But no promises," Blaise added, then received another whack to the arm by Pansy.

Eating food turned out not to be the easiest thing. In just about every dinner course, Draco had to get rid of Hermione's food because either the smell or taste made her stomach turn. He was surprisingly sweet about it all instead of being disgusted or annoyed. It was if he could sense when she started feeling nauseous and he would quickly remove her plate out of the way and give it to the waiter to take away. Sometimes he would offer bits of his food for her to nibble on. The whole episode was embarrassing but no one seemed to complain about it. The only thing Hermione managed to eat was dessert, and she had no problem keeping that down.

Despite not being able to stomach most of her food, Hermione was having a pretty good time talking to Blaise and Pansy. Not once did either of them try to trick or make fun of her or call her names.

The four of them left the restaurant and walked to the alleyway. Blaise kept tugging Pansy close to his body; it was obvious that they were blissfully in love with one another. Hermione smiled as she watched the two. It was weird to think that she and Draco were supposed to act that as well. Instead they just walked side by side awkwardly, not touching each other.

Draco and Blaise were busy chatting about quidditch when Pansy went up to Hermione. "Are you feeling okay Hermione?"

"Yeah, I'm much better now that we're finished eating. Why?"

"Oh nothing. You just seemed really quiet tonight like something was bothering you." Pansy lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is everything okay with you and Draco?"

Hermione looked over to Draco who was still talking to Blaise. "Yeah everything's fine. I'm just really tired I guess. Besides this morning sickness is bloody frustrating."

"Okay, good that's a relief. I wouldn't be able to stand it if you two starting fighting or something. You're like the perfect couple, if you guys can't make it then there's no hope for others out there."

Was she joking? Pansy thought that she and Draco were the perfect couple? Was she not paying attention to the way they acted with each other in school? Hermione just smiled.

Hermione had a sudden urge to prove to Pansy that she and Draco were fine, mainly so Pansy would stop questioning her about her weird behavior towards him. She walked over to Draco and wrapped her hand in the crook of Draco's elbow. He had his hands were in his pockets so she couldn't pretend to hold hands with him or anything. Not that she wanted to anyway.

When her hand touched his arm he gave a slight jerk of surprise and looked over at her. He jerked his hands out of his pockets and pulled his arm away from her hand. For a sickening moment she thought he did that because he didn't want her touching him, which wouldn't surprise her, but the gesture still hurt. She was about to step away from him to avoid being embarrassed by him even more when the arm that she was holding on to seconds ago came around her shoulders and pulled her close up against him.

Hermione had a knee jerk reaction to step away, but this is what she wanted in the first place. They were supposed to be this affectionate happily married couple. Otherwise people were going to start questioning their odd behavior like Pansy was close to doing. So she stayed, trying to ignore that his aftershave smelled really good, making her want to bury her face in his neck and inhale deep. Or that his fingertips were drawing lazy designs along her bare shoulder. She wasn't sure if he was even aware that he was doing that and she didn't really feel like pointing it out. Goosebumps rose up against her skin, and not from being cold out.

They reached the alleyway and were saying their goodbyes. Blaise and Pansy were having a party at their house this upcoming Saturday night and wanted them to come. After assuring them that they would be there they said goodbye and apparated home.

They landed with a pop in their kitchen. The house was dimly lit by a table lamp in the living room. Draco released his arm from her shoulders and Hermione already missed the heat of his body, but she shook it off.

"Well that wasn't so bad, was it?" Draco asked.

She shrugged acting nonchalant. "No I guess not. I'm going to check on Crissy."

"I'll go with you."

She didn't answer just started walking towards the nursery. In the hallway Ziggy appeared.

"Mrs. Malfoy. Ziggy happy your back."

"Thanks Ziggy. Did everything go okay?"

"Oh yes, Crissy very happy baby. She eat and I clean her then she sleeping all soundly."

"Good I'm very happy to hear that. Thank you for your help tonight."

"Ziggy happy to serve. Ziggy love Crissy very much." With that Ziggy left with a pop.

Hermione continued on to Crissy nursery. The door was closed so she quietly opened it trying not to disturb her sleeping. She walked over to her crib and peeked over. Crissy was sleeping on her back, one arm flung out to her side, fingers twitching slightly while she slept. Her lips were puckered in a pout, making tiny sucking sounds as she breathe evenly. In her other arm she held her dragon tightly by its tail. She wore a soft fuzzy lavender sleep onesie that covered her whole body.

"She looks like you." Draco came up next to her and whispered.

Hermione glanced over and looked at his profile, while he looked down at Crissy. "You think so?" Personally she thought Crissy looked more like him.

He cleared his throat quietly, "Yeah, she has your curly hair and brown eyes. And the freckles across her nose, didn't you have freckles when you were younger?"

"Yeah, I still do. But I usually cover them up now."

He leaned his arms along the edge of the crib, brushing against her in the process. "You shouldn't cover them up." He said not looking at her. "I like girls with freckles." He whispered.

She didn't know what to say to that so she stayed quiet. He did the same and watched Crissy sleep.

"I wonder how long we're going to be here?" Hermione said breaking the silence. "I mean it's only been three days and I've already completely fallen for her. And the longer we stay here the harder it's going to be to leave her behind."

"Don't get me wrong, I want to get back to our normal lives as soon as possible. But I know what you mean." He said quietly.

She swallowed back the sudden lump that formed in her throat at the thought of leaving Crissy someday. "We should probably let her sleep and go to bed."

"Yeah," Draco agreed and lowered the side of the crib to bend down and kiss her on the forehead. "Sleep tight Princess."

Hermione was still baffled by the sweet tenderness he expressed when handling Crissy. He straightens up and stepped back to allow her to do the same. She bent down and gave her a kiss as well and ran her hand over her soft curls. Crissy stirred slightly in her sleep, but didn't wake. Draco raised the side of the crib and locked it back in place, then made sure the baby monitor was on and working. They walked out quietly shutting the door behind them.

They took turns in the bathroom as they prepared for bed. Hermione started making her way to the dreaded sofa, not looking forward to sleeping on that god awful piece of furniture one more night. Draco followed her out to the living room.

"You can have the bed tonight." He said.

She picked up her pillow to fluff it. "Why?" she asked suspiciously.

He shrugged, "Because you're…"

"Pregnant?" she added for him.

He ran his hand through his hair making it stick up in places. "Well yeah."

She rolled her eyes at him, now he decides to be all chivalrous towards her, because she's in a delicate position. "Where are you going to sleep?"

He pointed to the sofa.

"No you can't sleep there!" the words were out her mouth before she could think differently, where else did she expect him to sleep?

"Why not?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"You're twice the size of that thing. And I'm a lot smaller than you and I still couldn't fit properly on it."

"Fine then, where do you suppose I sleep then?"

She thought about that for a moment, with only one other option in mind. "Maybe we can both be mature adults about this and just share the bed." She said in a timid voice, she could feel her cheeks heating up.

He smirked at her. "You just can't wait to get into bed with me, can you Granger."

"Oh sod off Malfoy. I'm just saying it's big enough for two people when plenty of room to spare and that sofa is damn near uncomfortable." She tried to keep her voice down for Crissy's sake. "I promise I won't touch you or anything so you don't have to worry about your precious skin being soiled by my filthiness."

He glared at her. "Fine, grab your pillow." Then turned and stormed back down the hallway.

She snatched her pillow with more force than necessary. How was it that he could make her melt with one stupid look one minute then make her blood boil with anger the next. Merlin help her, she just made a deal with the devil, why did she suggest they sleep in the same bed?

She walked in the bedroom with her pillow as Malfoy pulled back the covers and got in on one side. She was about to sleep with Draco Malfoy. She should have just refused and took the sofa, but yet here she was heading for the giant bed instead.


	5. Chapter 5: A Family Outing

Chapter Five: A Family Outing

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione reluctantly climbed into bed next to Malfoy, suddenly extremely shy. The bed was huge and she couldn't keep back the sigh of comfort as soon as her body made contact with the soft pillow mattress. She sunk into the softness, forgetting for a second that she was still in the same bed as Malfoy.

How could he be so cruel and make her sleep on the sofa, when they had this? How could she be so stupid and weak to let him do that? She should have fought back, but it was too late for that now. She got the bed…along with him in it, but then again that was her doing as well, since she wouldn't let him sleep on the sofa tonight.

Trying to push it all away from her mind, she just let the soft mattress soothe her aching joints and muscles. There was a mountain of pillows behind her, most looked to be for decoration only. She tossed the little foufy ones to the ground and took the larger ones and piled them in a line in the middle of the bed. Creating a barrier between her and Malfoy.

Draco watched her silently, arching an eyebrow at her amused. "Are you afraid I'm going to molest you in the middle of the night or something?" He smirked.

Hermione glared at him and continued to build her wall of pillows between them.

"Don't worry Granger I wouldn't touch you if my life depended on it."

She didn't want to point out that he's already touched her loads of times, just causal touches, nothing remotely sexual. But still touching nonetheless.

"Just go to sleep Malfoy."

"Gladly." He turned on his side facing away from her and reached out and turned off the lamp on the night stand coating the room in complete darkness.

She wasn't finished arranging her little fort, but she had enough to keep him on his side of the bed and for her to stay on her side. She lay down, sinking further under the covers. She lay perfectly still. She could already hear Malfoy's evenly breathing. What was it with men? They can fall asleep just like that.

Hermione was exhausted but now she felt wide awake. She kept sneaking glances over at him. She could see his striking white blonde hair against the pillow, but other than that he was an indefinable lump under the covers. He was probably sound asleep by now without a care in the world.

She couldn't fall asleep, because she was oddly nervous. She had never slept with anyone before, never had to share a bed with anyone. And she never imagined that the first person she would ever share a bed with would be Malfoy. She let out a sigh that ended up a lot louder then she intended it to be.

"Just close your eyes and go to sleep Granger. You're so tense I'm afraid if I roll over you'll shatter into a million pieces." She heard Malfoy mumble, still facing away from her.

She didn't say anything, completely embarrassed that even in his sleepy state could still easily read her like a book. She rolled over on her side, facing away from him and shut her eyes. It took some time but she finally managed to fall asleep.

Hermione could see the warm daylight seeping through the windows as she slowly opened her eyes. She wanted to rollover and stretch lazily. But immediately realized that that wouldn't be possible. There was a warm, hard body pressed up against her back. A warm, hard, very…um aroused male body to be exact.

She felt one of Malfoy's legs nestled snuggly between both of hers and his other draped across the top of her ankles. His arm was wrapped around the front of her body. From the steady sound of Malfoy's breathing, she was sure he was still asleep, but his body certainly wasn't.

His arm shifted slightly so that his hand cupped around her breast. She hated to admit it but the contact felt…wonderful. Part of her wanted to snuggle back against him, wanting him to touch her more. But the other part wanted to get out of his hold before he woke up or before she did something stupid to embarrass them both.

Beneath the heat of his hand over her breast, her body, against her will began to react as well. Okay, she needed to get out of this bed now! Shifting her weight slightly, she took hold of his wrist and tried to move his arm away. It was like trying to lift a bolder. His arm didn't budge, but his fingers flexed against her breast. She closed her eyes again, trembling slightly. His touch shamelessly felt so good.

She had been focused on her education, trying to prove to everyone that just because she was a muggleborn didn't mean she wasn't as good, smart, or talented as any pureblood witch or wizard. She never put any effort in trying to start a relationship with anyone or even attempted to causally date, unless you counted to the Yule Ball with Krum, and she didn't. She barely ever acted in any harmless flirtation; she didn't even think she knew how to flirt. For her it was always school, career, then relationships, marriage and family.

But this wasn't school. There was no one else to focus on or talk too. It was just her and Malfoy stuck together in this crazy situation. With no rules or guidelines to go by. And whether her body wanted to or not, she couldn't start anything with Malfoy. She needed all of her energy to take care of Crissy and this baby growing in her belly and focus on getting back to the past.

With regret, she got a stronger grip on Malfoy's wrist and attempted to pull away his arm. He moaned her name softly and pulled her tighter, pressing his hips against her bum. Her pulse raced and she wondered if he was only faking sleep. But the soft snoring told her that he was truly out. The name he mumbled wasn't Granger but Hermione. He had never once called her that…well except the other night when they had dinner with Pansy and Blaise. For some reason that gave her a great deal of satisfaction.

She shook his arm as best as she could, considering it was wrapped around her like a metal band.

"Malfoy, wake up."

He still didn't release her, if anything he pulled her closer still, she felt the tip of his nose grazed along the back of her neck, then she felt his lips against the sensitive skin below her ear. He wasn't kissing her; his lips were just there softly against her neck. His warm breath tickling her overheated skin.

As if on cue, Crissy started crying from her nursery. Hermione was able to turn her head enough to see a baby monitor sitting on top of the dresser.

"Hmm?" She heard Malfoy murmur against her skin.

She froze, this was the part she was dreading. The part when he became awake enough to realize what he was doing. Malfoy came awake with a start, releasing his hold on her breast as if it had burned his hand.

"Uh?" He rolled away from her, almost falling off the edge of the bed.

"Morning." She mumbled lamely, not looking at him.

She sat up and crossed her arms over her chest self-consciously, not because she was embarrassed…well she was for herself as well as for him. But mainly crossed her arms so he wouldn't notice her body's reaction to him. Still not looking at her he pulled back the covers and got out of the bed.

"I'll go check on Crissy." And left the room without a single glance in her direction.

After he left the room, she let out a breath that she didn't realize she was holding and fell back against her pillow. So much for creating her barrier of pillows to separate themselves. She looked around the room. Some were at the foot of the bed; the others were on the floor. She definitely didn't remember removing them in the middle of the night. And someone would have to purposely move them to be on the floor.

Through the baby monitor she could hear Malfoy talking to Crissy, trying to soothe her. A horrible thought came to her. If the baby monitor had been in here the entire time, did that mean he would have heard her when she went to Crissy in the middle of the night and sang to her? It was in the middle of the night, so maybe he was asleep and didn't hear her. She could only hope. She went ahead and took this opportunity of being alone in the bedroom to go ahead and change for the day.

Draco was having the best dream ever. That was until he found out that it wasn't a dream whatsoever. Unfortunately she was right there to witness everything, not only witness but feel everything too. Damn-it! What the hell was wrong with him? He was openly groping her in his sleep. He couldn't even put the blame on her, since she remained on her side of the bed the entire time and he was the one to rollover in her space while he practically held her prisoner in his arms. And if it wasn't humiliating enough as is, he was painfully turned on from the whole thing. And she knew it.

Thank Merlin; she hadn't said anything about it. Although he didn't necessarily give her anytime to, since he bolted out of the room as soon as his head cleared up enough to realize what was going on. His heart was beating rapidly and his hands shook. He reached the nursery and willed his body to cool down before he opened the door to check on his daughter.

He wasn't about to deny the fact that Granger had been the center of his dreams as of late, but he never wanted her to find out about it. He didn't know what it was about her that attracted him. Ever since he's known her, he's been taught to hate everything about her, and anyone else like her…muggleborns. And because of that he's never paid attention to her, just automatically put her in the category of people he should hate.

If he was being honest, Granger was a better witch then some of the purebloods he'd known. Not only was she talented in magic, but she was also smart. Since the war ended the hatred between purebloods and muggleborns ended. Though there were still some who couldn't change their way of thinking…like his father for example. He would probably never think of muggleborns or half-bloods equal to purebloods. Draco always went along with that thinking to please his father but as of late he's been trying to change his thinking. To think for himself instead of what others expected of him.

He no longer feels hatred towards muggleborns, but sometimes there would still be some prejudice between them. He was trying to be a better person, but sometimes you can't just change everything overnight.

Crissy would be a half-blood, not a pureblood like himself and his family…yet he didn't care. He loved her because she was his, it didn't matter what kind of blood ran through her veins…and Granger was her mother, a muggleborn.

His father probably had a heart attack or something when they got married. He wondered if his parents ever accepted the fact that he married a muggleborn instead of a pureblood. Despite the fact that Granger was not only a muggleborn, but also one third of the golden trio. Were they even involved in their lives…in Crissy's?

He still didn't know why or what it was about Granger that drew his attention. Since he arrived here, he had been chalking it up to the fact that she was the only one who knew what was going on, and she was the best shot of finding a way to get us out of here. But now, there was something else going on, brewing under the surface that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

If he hadn't known her for the past 8 years and didn't know she was a muggleborn, then he might have found her attractive. Although she wasn't the kind of woman he normally went for. He usually liked them tall, blonde and well-endowed like his latest conquest Astoria Greengrass. Merlin that had been a mistake. She had everything going for her on the outside, beautiful, rich; pureblood…his father would have loved her. But she was as dumb as a doornail, absolutely devoid of all brain cells and annoying as hell. She wouldn't leave him alone.

Granger was nothing like her, the complete opposite. Yet somehow he was drawn to her. She definitely grew out of her awkward stage and filled out in all the right places. And unfortunately he knew just how perfectly she had filled out. He felt his face heat up, great he was blushing, just like she does so frequently.

Shit, he probably scared the hell out of her, with how forward his body had been. If he was correct in his assumptions he would bet money that she was still a virgin. Unless she had been shacking up with Potter and Weasley behind closed doors. The thought of that made his blood boil, but he refused to admit that it was jealously that he was feeling.

In his defense he was asleep; if he were awake he would have never touched her like that without her permission. He might be an ass towards her most of the time, but he wasn't cruel. He ran a hand over his jaw which was covered with a new growth of stubble and walked into the nursery.

Hermione walked into the kitchen, heart beating. Was she supposed to act like nothing happened? Just pretend everything was normal? She didn't want to be the one to bring it up, so maybe she shouldn't say anything. Taking a deep breath she walked over to the refrigerator. Deciding not to say anything about earlier this morning she reached in and grabbed a jar of pickles. Then went over to the stove to put the tea kettle to boil.

Draco sat at the table feeding Crissy and not looking in her direction. Okay then, so they were just going to pretend it never happened, she thought. She opened the jar and took a pickle out and bit into it. Savoring the sour crunch, she shut her eyes while a moan of delight escaped her lips.

"How can you eat those things? And for breakfast of all things?" Malfoy's words brought her out of her brief love affair with pickles.

She glanced over at him as he was eyeing her pickle jar in disgust, she shrugged. "I think it has something to do with being pregnant, you get bizarre cravings for foods you might not normally eat on a daily basis. Like things that are salty, sour or spicy."

"Right well, lucky you." He said sarcastically, turning his attention back to Crissy.

She continued to eat her pickles as the silence stretched between them. Once Draco fed Crissy the last spoonful of applesauce he cleared his throat.

"About this morning I…"

"Don't worry about it. It's already forgotten." Hermione said cutting him off.

Even though she wasn't being honest, she hadn't forgotten she could still feel the heat of his touch on her skin as if his imprint branded her.

He nodded looking uncomfortable. "Right well, it won't happen again I promise."

She nodded feeling oddly disappointed. Part of her wanted it to happen again. She wanted him to touch her more and often. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The more time she spent around him, the more tempted she was becoming to this foreign attraction towards him.

Changing the subject she decided to switch the conversation to a more neutral topic. "Do you have practice today?" She asked him.

Maybe that's what they needed some time apart. Spending so much time together was clouding their judgment…or at least hers. Things had been going surprisingly well between them, up to this point. Probably because they didn't spend every waking moment together, since he usually had practice from about 9:00am to 5:00pm every day. If they did spend every second together then they would probably be at each other's throats …or ripping each other's clothes off. Hermione's face flared up, where had that thought come from? What was wrong with her? She was feeling…needy, was the only way to describe it.

"Are you okay? You're not going to get sick are you?" Malfoy's question brought her back to the present.

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine just had too much to eat or something."

She got up trying to distance herself as far away as possible from him. She went to the refrigerator to put her pickles away.

"So do you have practice?" She asked again.

He got up taking his dirty dishes to the sink. "No, not today. I don't have practice again until next week."

Her shoulders slumped; great she would be spending all day and all weekend with him. Just when she needed space, she was going to be stuck with him.

He looked over at her. "So, what exactly do you do all day here anyway?"

She looked around their home and shrugged. "Well I look after Crissy and play her. Then when she goes down for a nap I start to…"

"Wait don't tell me. You study?" He looked over at the pile of books still sitting at the end of the dining table.

She shrugged and glared at him, how many times had they had this conversation? "Those books are there for us for a reason. One of us needs to make sure we're not doing anything wrong."

He held up his hands. "Easy there tiger, no need to get upset. I was just messing with you."

She rolled her eyes. She was acting ridiculous; one minute she was all hot and bothered being near him and the next she just wanted to smack him.

A tapping sounded at the window. They both turned their heads to the sound of a large gray owl, the same one from the other day stood at the window ruffling out its feathers. It held two envelopes and a copy of the Daily Prophet in its beak. Draco walked over and collected the mail from the bird. He gave it an owl treat before shutting the window as the owl flew off.

Hermione walked over to him to look at the letter. "It's from Pansy." He said indicating to the pink envelope in his hand, he handed it to her.

Hermione pulled out a single card and looked at it. "It's an invitation for tomorrow night. Their having an informal engagement party. I thought they already invited us to this last night."

"Mmm, that's Pansy for you. She loves to throw a party. And when she does she likes to go all out with fancy invitations and all." Draco said. "This one is addressed to you." He told her as he handed her the letter.

_Mrs. Malfoy,_

_This is just a remainder that you have a doctor's appointment this upcoming Tuesday at 2:00 o'clock with Doctor Tink. We look forward to seeing you again._

_Sincerely, _

_The nurse staff at St. Mungos _

"It just a letter reminding me I have a doctor's appointment next Tuesday." Hermione told Draco as she went over and wrote the time and date down on the calendar.

Hermione didn't want to be cooped up in the house all day and she thought about taking Crissy either to the park or the zoo while Draco was at practice. But since he didn't have practice today, her plans were ruined. Unless he wanted to go to the zoo with them? She sent a letter to Candlewick by owl two days ago explaining in detail their situation and if she had any idea how to get them back. But she hadn't heard anything since then and she didn't want to spend another day waiting around for her letter to arrive.

"Do you want to go to the zoo today with me and Crissy?" She asked him already expecting him to say no.

"The zoo? Why would we go there?" Draco asked.

"It's fun, educational and you can easily spend the whole day there walking around looking at all the animals. My parents used to take me to the zoo all the time when I was little and I loved it. Crissy might be a little too young to understand everything but she will probably still have a good time."

"Isn't it all the way in London?"

"Yeah, but it's not that far a drive from here."

"Drive? You mean in a muggle transportation vehicle? It would be so much easier to just apparate there." He told her.

"I don't want to risk apparating Crissy anywhere we don't know if she likes it or not. Besides driving isn't as horrible as it sounds. And if we take the car then we can take along her stroller." Hermione said taking Crissy out of her highchair.

"This sucks," he mumbled.

"Oh don't be such a baby. It's not going to kill you to spend a couple of hours at the zoo."

"It's not the zoo that I'm talking about. It's that we have to go there in that deathtrap muggles call a transportation vehicle."

"Why Malfoy, it sounds like to me that you're afraid of a measly little car?" He sneered at her. "You fly a thousand feet up in the air on a stick of wood every day. How is that not a deathtrap? At least cars have seatbelts." She muttered.

While Draco showered and got ready for their outing, Hermione went about the house putting together a diaper bag for Crissy as she sipped on a cup of ginger tea. Once everything was all set she sat at the table looking through this morning's _Daily Prophet._ She looked up when he entered the kitchen. He was wearing a soft looking white t-shirt and jeans that were probably made to look worn and faded. They were well fitted but not tight enough that it looked like second skin. His hair was still wet at the ends and he still had stubble along his jaw and chin, which gave him a bit of a dangerous look.

It was the most casual he had ever looked. And that didn't include seeing him in his boxers, which had been numerous times now. But this was the most casual she had ever seen him, especially when they were about to go out in public. And for once he wasn't wearing black on black like he usually did. Oh bugger, she was staring at him again, she needed to stop doing that. One of these days she would probably start drooling after him if she wasn't careful.

"What is all of this for?" he asked gesturing to Crissy's overflowing diaper bag on the table.

"It's for Crissy." She said reading the last article in the prophet to cover up the fact that she was staring at him earlier.

"And she needs all of this? For the zoo? What could she possibly need that takes up that much space in a bag?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at him; sometimes boys could be so thick when it comes to this kind of stuff. "It has extra diapers in case she needs changing, bottles full of formula and juice along with extra snacks to nibble on in case she gets hungry, toys in case she gets bored, an extra set of clothes in case she gets dirty, her blanket, sunscreen, a hat, a pacif…"

"Okay, okay I get it, sorry I asked." He muttered. "Are you ready to go or not." He asked sounding agitated.

Without responding she got up and looped the bag over her shoulder and grabbed Crissy from her playpen. Then headed towards the garage. Draco shuffled behind her still sulking over the fact that they had to use muggle transportation.

Draco followed Granger out into the garage and stared in horror at the vehicle they were taking. It looked like a tin can that could easily be crushed. He seen muggle vehicles before, but never in his life did he ever think he would ride in one.

And to his utter delight they not only had one, but two vehicles. One was a small, sleek black one, that looked should he dare say…sexy though he would never admit it to her, while the other one looked big and boxy but with rounded edges. He much rather take the black sexy one then this red monstrosity, at least the black one had style. But Granger was already loading Crissy into what she called the van and who was he to argue.

He walked over to one side and opened the door to get in, but Granger stopped him.

"Nuh uh, you get in the other side. I know for a fact that you don't know how to drive a car." She told him while she was busy strapping Crissy into a special seat in the back.

He looked inside to see what she was talking about. The side he was about to get into had petals on the floor and a circular wheel sticking out from the front. This must be where you operated the vehicle to get it to move. Shutting the door he walked to the other side and got in. Using magic would be so much easier; all you had to do was give a flick of your wand and bam. Muggles liked to make things so complicated with all their buttons, switches and knobs on everything.

He almost felt like he needed to start taking notes when Granger tried to explain to him the other day what the purpose of the television was and how it worked, and what each button on the remote did and what functions they served.

Granger finally got in on the other side and pulled out a key and put it into a slot next to the wheel, like it was no big deal.

"You know how to drive this?" He asked.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I know how to drive this?" When he didn't answer her she sighed, "My dad taught me when I was fourteen or so, even though technically I wasn't legally old enough to drive then. But it made getting my license a lot easier since I already knew what to do."

He just nodded since he didn't quite know what to say to that. Of course she would know how to drive this thing. She was a muggleborn after all and didn't grow up surrounded by magic all the time.

"Put your seatbelt on." She told him.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "My what?"

"Your seatbelt." She looked at him waiting to do as he was told. "The strap hanging behind you by the door." She told him when he didn't move.

He picked it up with two fingers, still not sure what to do with it.

"Take the strap and pull it across your chest and take the metal tab there and put it into the buckle by your hip."

He still didn't have the foggiest idea what the hell she was talking about.

"Here like this, watch."

She unbuckled her own seatbelt, and put it back so it was hanging by the door, so she could show him step by step from the beginning. She took the strap again and pulled the top part diagonally across her chest and buckled the metal tab into the buckle at her hip. She was telling him the steps on how to do it, but he was completely distracted when the strap of the belt pulled tightly against her breast and nestled in the middle between them, that he didn't hear a word she said.

It reminded him that earlier that morning he was touching her there, and found that he really wanted to do it again. She was small but firm and oh so warm and they fit perfectly in the palm of his hand.

"Malfoy are you even listening to me?"

Bringing his thoughts back to the present and stared blankly at her, "huh?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed out a sigh. "Here I'll do it."

She leaned over and grabbed the strap, which was now in a twisted tangled mess from him. This motion caused her head of curls to get right in his face. Since she wasn't looking at his face and focusing on getting the bloody strap to buckle in place, he took this opportunity to inhale the exotic jasmine scent that seemed to always cling to her hair and skin. She wore he hair up again and he could tell from this angle that it was being held in place by a single clip. It would be so easy to take the clip out and let her hair fall to her shoulders. He lifted his hand to do just that when she pulled away.

"It's like strapping in a child." She muttered going back to her own side of the car.

Distracted by her comment he put his hand down and looked over at her. "Hey I heard that."

She looked at him and smirked. "Good." Then went about shifting down a lever and slowly backed out of the garage.

He was completely mesmerized at how naturally driving this vehicle came to her, it was like she wasn't even thinking about it. And not once did she flinch as another car pulled up beside them or cut in front of them. She knew exactly when to stop and when to go and how fast to drive. He at least admitted to himself that it was absolutely ridiculous that he was afraid to ride in this thing.

And unfortunately she was right, even though he would never tell her so, about flying being much more dangerous. And he was actually becoming quite fascinated by the whole driving thing. Making him want to do it himself, although he would have to learn first. And since Granger got all annoyed by the seatbelt thing, he was willing to bet that she wouldn't want to teach him this.

They drove in silence with the radio playing some song that he wasn't familiar with, although Granger was, since she kept humming along to it. Needing something to do, he reached over and pushed a button, changing the station.

"Hey, I was listening to that!" she protested.

He shrugged. "So? I want to listen to something else."

"No change it back!"

He ignored her and kept flipping through the stations. He really didn't care what they listened to or if it was a station that she chose. He just didn't like the silence between them; or rather he liked it too much. It was too comfortable, like they were some old married couple, completely content to share a space together without talking. It kept making his mind wonder off back to that morning and what would have happened if he didn't roll away from her. And other random fantasies that involved her. He needed her to be annoyed or mad at him, so he could have some normalcy back in his life.

"You won't find any wizard stations on here if that's what you're looking for."

"I figured. I just couldn't listen to that crap you call music a second longer."

"It's not crap." She muttered.

Good, she was starting to get annoyed. He turned to a station that had loud thrashing music. He couldn't tell if the person was singing or just talking really fast. He heard a lot of "yo, yo, yo's" and the words "thug," and "gangster" were thrown about, along with lots of bleeping noises. Personally he hated it the moment he heard it, but he received a deadly glare from Granger. So mission accomplished.

He leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, looking out the window and smiling to himself. It only took seconds for her to turn off the radio all together.

"That's not appropriate for Crissy to overhear."

They were once again driving in silence, only this time it was an annoyed silence…on her part as opposed to the comfortable kind they were having before. He knew it was childish but at the moment he didn't care, he just wanted things to go back to normal between them, which meant then pissing each other off.

Luckily they arrived at the zoo and Granger was focusing on parking the car. Once parked he unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. Before he could even think about stepping out, Granger launches herself over his lap. He shot his arm out around her waist, afraid she was about to take a nosedive into the pavement below. But she just laid there over his knees with her bum up in the air; one of her hands clutched the handle of the open door while the other was painfully digging into his forearm.

It took him more than a second to realize that she was vomiting outside his door. Not out her own door, but his. He had no choice but to let her finish, since she was practically on top of him. And he couldn't move without moving her. He started to awkwardly pat her on the back, although it didn't really occur to him at first that patting someone on the back when their vomiting probably wouldn't be the most soothing thing. Since you usually pat someone on the back when they coughing or choking or to burp a baby. He started to rub her back instead, but kept his touch light. He didn't want her to think he cared or anything.

She kept at it for another minute or two. He couldn't possibly think of what else would be left in her stomach, since all he saw her eat were those damn pickles. He only risked looking once and decided that that had been a mistake. Once she finally finished retching up her breakfast she just laid there on his lap, muscles limp, like her body just needed to rest. She was breathing hard, skin clammy and she was trembling all over. He debated whether or not he should ask if she was okay, even though clearly she wasn't.

"You couldn't have done that outside your own door?" He knew the moment that comment left his lips he would regret it.

Her grip loosened on his arm and she wiped her mouth on the back of her hand then burst out crying. Hot, heavy tears and hiccupping breaths and all. He immediately felt like a complete asshole. She managed to sit up so she wasn't lying across his lap, but sitting on it instead. Her face was pale and she wouldn't look him in the eye, clearly embarrassed.

"I'm…I'm so…sorry…your door…was open….and I…I panicked…or something…I didn't mean too…it came out of nowhere." She sniffed trying to stop her crying by wiping her tears away as fast as they appeared.

"Don't worry about it Hermione. I probably would have done the same if I were in your position." He said softly.

She looked at him kind of funny. "I didn't get any on you did I?" she asked shyly.

"No you didn't"

She was still sitting in his lap wiping away tears. He reached in the back seat to grab Crissy's diaper back. He pulled out one of her empty bottles and got his wand out.

"_aquamenti"_ clean water shot out of his want filling up the bottle .

He handed it to her, "Thanks," she accepted the bottle and took a sip, swishing the water around in her mouth then leaning over to spit the water out on the pavement.

She must have finally realized that she was still in his lap because she immediately scrambled back over to her side.

"We can go back home if you're not feeling good."

She shook her head. "No, I'll be fine in a second."

He used his wand to clean the pavement off before stepping out of the car. They put together Crissy's baby stroller and got everything set up then finally enter the zoo.

Crissy was having a blast. She kept wanting to see the animals, so Draco ended up taking her out of her stroller and held her in his arms so she could see better. They were watching the monkey's when he heard Hermione gasp beside him; she tugged on the sleeve of his shirt.

"Look!" she said excitedly. "They have fried pickles!" she squealed and went over to the vendor to stand in line leaving Draco and Crissy with the monkeys.

Draco rolled his eyes and shook his head, but couldn't help but smile, he turned to Crissy. "This is going to be a long day."

Crissy squealed and clapped her hands together. "Mon-ke."


	6. Chapter 6: Runaway Hormones

Chapter Six: Runaway Hormones _  
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_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling  
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_They were sitting on a bench eating ice cream, watching the elephants running around in the dirt. Hermione had a strawberry sundae while Draco ate a chocolate cone. Crissy sat in Draco's lap eagerly waiting for the delicious small bites of Strawberry ice cream Hermione kept feeding her. _

"_Mmmm!" Crissy kept humming everything she got a bite of the tart sweetness of the strawberry._

_ Draco held his ice cream cone down by his knee as he pointed towards the baby elephant playing in the water to Crissy. But Crissy had her eye on something else instead. It only took seconds for her to dive in, nose first into his chocolate ice cream cone. Instead of licking it like you were supposed to, she kept biting at it, trying to find the best angle to get the biggest bite. This only resulted in getting it all over her face. _

_ Hermione burst out laughing at the mess Crissy made and Draco sat there in shock. Not at all prepared for Crissy to attack his ice cream cone like that. _

_Crissy licked her lips at the chocolaty goodness that coated the, "Mmmm!" she hummed loud. _

_ It only took seconds for Draco to burst out laughing as well._

"_Wait, don't move." Hermione said and reached into the diaper bag and pulled out a camera. "Say Cheese!"_

_ Instead of smiling for the camera, Crissy grabbed ahold of his ice cream cone and dove in nose first once again. Draco was laughing so hard he couldn't stay still enough to look at the camera. She took the picture, capturing this moment in time to cherish forever._

_The scene changed._

_ They were no longer at the zoo. Instead it was just Hermione, a very pregnant Hermione along with Ginny and Pansy shopping in Diagon Alley for baby clothes. Hermione didn't know if she was pregnant with Crissy or the new baby. But at the moment she didn't care because she was too busy giggling uncontrollably each time Pansy or Ginny held up a ridiculously cute Halloween costume for little babies._

_The scene changed again._

_ Hermione was no longer shopping with Ginny and Pansy. Instead she was in their backyard. But there was something different about it, there was a play-set built off to the side of the yard complete with a set of swings and a slide. A little giggling bundle of blonde curls went racing past her towards the swings. Crissy? She looked so much older maybe three or four?_

"_Be careful Crissy, remember to hold on with both hands." She heard Draco warn her from behind._

"_I know daddy, I'll be careful." _

_ Hermione smiled to herself. Crissy was all grown up, walking and talking in full sentences. Draco walked up behind her and put his arms around her._

"_Everything okay love?" He asked._

_ All she could do was nod as she watched their daughter play. A little hand tugged on the bottom of the shorts she was wearing. She looked down, into the biggest silver-blue eyes she had ever seen._

"_Mummy can you push me on the swings?"_

_ She couldn't believe who she was seeing. They had a little boy. The unborn baby that was in her belly was a boy, she had a son. Who had pencil straight brown hair and silver-blue eyes. _

"_Of course." She whispered trying not to cry._

"_Declan, you can swing by yourself just like me!" Crissy yelled as she demonstrated how she could swing all by herself._

"_But I like it when mummy or daddy pushes me." Declan squealed as he ran for the second swing. _

"_Fine then, Daddy can you push me? I want to go up high." Crissy asked never to be outdone by her little brother._

"_Sure thing Princess." Draco said as he grabbed Hermione's hand and the two of them walked towards their children._

_The scene changed once again. _

_ Hermione was now lying in bed, perfectly warm under the covers. She knew immediately that she wasn't wearing her over baggy sleep-shirt and sweat pants like she had been in the past couple of days, instead she was back in one of her silky, lacey negligées she had on the first morning they woke up together. But again she didn't care because she loved the satiny feeling against her skin. _

_ Her eyes were still closed and she didn't want to wake up. An alarm clock started to go off softly near her side of the bed. She didn't' remember setting an alarm and didn't feel like getting up to find out why it was going off. _

_ Instead without opening her eyes she lazily reached out off to the side and tried to blindly shut it off. Lying on her back, with one arm stretch out to the still shrieking alarm, while her other laid under her pillow beneath her head. She was about to open her eyes to roll over and turn the damn alarm off when a warm heavy weight rolled on top of her and reached out and turned the alarm off._

_ And instead of rolling off her the person that belonged to the warm weight stayed right where he was. She didn't have to open her eyes to know who it was. She could feel every inch of his body that was covering hers. And very aware of the heat radiating off his skin._

_ Opening her eyes slowly she came in contact with a pair of silver eyes staring down at her. She couldn't move and didn't want to move. She felt paralyzed under his intense gaze. He maneuvered himself between her legs, never once breaking eye contact. _

_ Her arm that reached out to turn the alarm off was still stretched out next to her. His was too; he slowly traced his fingertips down her arm, lightly caressing the sensitive skin on the inside of her wrist, down to the crook of the inside of her elbow. While his other hand somehow made its way under her silk teddy and slowly grazed up her hipbone to her waist and along her ribcage and traveling further up still. _

_ Goosebumps raised on her skin though she wasn't cold, but pleasantly warm and getting hotter still. Draco pressed his hips into hers which caused a moan to escape her lips, one she didn't realize she was holding. She watched as his eyes darken with desire. Their breathing grew heavier; she could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest. _

_ She wanted to reach out and touch him as he was touching her, but she just laid there letting him do the exploring of her body with his hands. He pressed his hips into hers again. _

"_Draco," she whispered as she reached up with her hand to trace her fingertips along his jaw and over his lips._

_ He lowered his head so he was only a hairbrush way from her, his silver eyes boring down into hers. She couldn't breathe, couldn't move for fear it would break the intense magnetic pull between them. Then finally he closed the space between them and kissed her. _

_ It was everything she imagined it would be like to be kissed by him. It was raw, intense and passionate. What little clothing they had on was quickly removed and laying in piles on the floor. Hands and lips were everywhere and the only sounds in the room were their gasps of breath and their moans of pleasure. She couldn't believe this was happening and she never wanted it to end…_

Hermione woke up with a start. Panting and her skin damp with sweat. Bloody hell, it had all been a dream…all of it. Well except the part about the zoo, that had been real and she had the picture to prove it, but everything else? Shopping with Pansy and Ginny, their children in the back yard, her and… Oh god it had all been a dream, but yet it felt so real. She still had goosebumps along her skin despite her now overheated body.

"Oh good your awake. Would you mind prying your hand off my arm? I think your cutting off my circulation with your iron like grip." Draco said calmly above her.

Her hand flew off his arm as if she received an electric shock. Her head had been resting on his shoulder. Damn-it! Could they possibly spend one morning without one of them clinging onto the other? Just once? Her face was on fire and her body was overheated with the need to…to…do something she wasn't sure and didn't really want to find out with Malfoy laying there in bed next to her.

She rolled over until she was once again on her side of the bed. She let out a shaky breath, trying to decide what could be the best escape route out of this horribly embarrassing situation. She couldn't believe she had a dream about Malfoy…a very vivid dream. And she couldn't believe her body was reacting so strongly to it.

She prayed to god that she didn't do or say anything out loud while she was asleep that would give away what she had been dreaming about to Malfoy. By the way he was laying there, hands laced behind his head with a smug expression on his face; he must have had some inkling to what was going through her head.

"Did you sleep well Granger?" He smirked.

"Shut up Malfoy!" she snapped.

"Hey I'm just trying to be civil here. And I simply wanted to know if you slept well or had any good dreams."

"More like nightmares." She muttered crossing her arms over her chest.

"It didn't sound like a nightmare to me. In fact it seemed to me that you were enjoying whatever it was that you were dreaming about…very much." He said sounding as if he was trying hard not to laugh.

Her stomach dropped, could she be any more humiliated? "I didn't question or mock your actions yesterday morning. So I'd appreciate it if you just forget anything ever happened and never mention it again. And I'll do the same."

He sighed. "Touché. But if it happens again I can promise you, I won't just forget it next time." He smirked as he climbed out of bed and walked towards the bathroom shutting the door behind him.

Seconds later she heard the water running in the shower. She scrubbed a hand over her face, he skin still felt hot. What was wrong with her? Oh god what had she said? What did she do? She must have done something to tip off Malfoy, because it was pretty obvious that he knew exactly what kind of dream she had been dreaming about.

She didn't know whether to run around the neighborhood a few times until she cooled off or curl up in a ball and cry. If she thought her hormones were going haywire before then she was sadly mistaken. She felt shaky and needy, full of adrenaline, and she didn't know what to do about it.

Hermione got out of bed, because she didn't want to still be here when he was finished showering. She quickly changed into a t-shirt and jeans. Either her clothes were shrinking or she was getting bigger. She figured it was the getting bigger part. Her t-shirt kept riding up about her belly and she had to leave the top button undone on her jeans, otherwise she couldn't breathe. She left the bedroom to go wake up Crissy.

Draco cursed under his breath as the icy cold water hit his overheated skin. Why did he have to be the first one to wake up this morning? If he had just stayed asleep, then he would have never witnessed Hermione withering next to him, against him in her sleep. Her heard her moaning and immediately thought she was in pain or maybe that something had been wrong with the baby. So he became wide awake rather quickly only to find out that she wasn't moaning in pain but in something else altogether.

She kept running her foot up and down his leg and kept pressing her body into to him. He would have woken her up, but he was enjoying it too much, mainly because he could finally have something on her to mock her with later on…or so he kept telling himself that. He had no idea she even had it in her, here he thought she was this prude, innocent schoolgirl. But instead she was this fiery vixen rubbing herself all over him like a kitten.

It took everything in him not to roll her over on her back and ravish her then and there. Even after she woke up, he still had to keep his strong urge to just take her under control. He surprised even himself how calmly he acted about the entire thing.

Damn-it, taking a cold shower wasn't doing a damn thing to cool down his body. If he thought he could control his attraction around her before then he was absolutely doomed now. Just witnessing her purring like a kitten next to him, even if she wasn't dreaming about him would be etched in his memory forever.

Hermione sat at the table feeding Crissy some yogurt and bits of cereal. She had her pregnancy book sitting in her lap. She was thumbing through it, stopping on the chapter about what your body is experiencing week by week. Under the 8-12 weeks, it said _to expect_ _strange cravings for sweet, sour, and sometimes spicy foods_. Check. That would explain her sudden craving for pickles.

It went on about experiencing fatigue, morning sickness, headaches, mood swings…blah, blah, blah. All of this she already knew and was experiencing. She read a part where it said sometimes _you will experience having bizarre dreams at night, usually sexual in nature, sometimes it would be about the baby or going into labor and having the baby, and sometimes they could be about you imagining what your baby is going to look like after it's born._

Great so having erotic sex dreams was supposed to be a common thing, just brilliant. Having one was bad enough, but having more than one was not good. Not good at all. And why did it even have to be about him? Why couldn't it be with someone else who didn't have the last name of Malfoy or someone who didn't make her life a living hell the past 8 years?

She went on to read_, that during this time in your pregnancy it is normal for you to feel sexually frustrated since your hormones are all out of whack. It's perfectly safe for couples to have sex while pregnant. Some studies even recommend that couples engage in sexual activity in the early stages of pregnancy. It helps to rekindle relationships and helps make your partner or spouse feel needed. You'll find yourself feeling less moody, anxious, and irritable with a little bit of TLC and cuddle time with your partner. _

She shut the book with a smack, what a bunch of rubbish. Why did everything have to be about sex, it was on her brain constantly as of late, she didn't need a book to help encourage her to act on her impulses. She shut her eyes and pinches the bridge of her nose. She was starting to get a headache.

"We're almost out of milk."

Hermione gasped and almost fell out of her chair; she didn't hear him walk in the kitchen. "Add it to the list then." She said impatiently.

She didn't want to deal with him now. Putting the book back on the table she picked up her dirty dishes and took them over to the sink.

"Someone sounds grumpy. Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed Granger? Oh wait, that's right you d…"

"Shut up Malfoy!"

"I think mummy's in a bad mood." Draco told Crissy as he walked over to the dining table and sat down.

Hermione just chose to ignore him, maybe if she did, he would just leave her alone. Fortunately it worked; he didn't bother her again for most of the day. Of course she never gave him a chance too. She kept herself busy by cleaning the house or hiding away in the privacy of the office inside their home, studying more of the baby books and waiting around for Candlewicks reply. Luckily he also kept busy entertaining and watching over Crissy. While she avoided him.

Draco watched out of the corner of his eye as Hermione ran around the house doing random things. After their little episode earlier in the morning she had barely uttered more than three words to him.

There was so much tension in the air between them, good and bad, now after everything that has happened in the last couple of days. It was started to make him a bit crazy. And it was clearing affecting her as well, since she had been avoiding him like the plague all day. Yet every now and then he would catch her staring at him and when he would catch her eye, she would look away immediately as a pink blush crept up along her cheeks.

At least he had Crissy to keep him distracted otherwise he didn't know what he might have been capable of doing when it came to Hermione Granger. It was getting to the point that it seemed completely ridiculous, he felt like a predator stocking his prey, constantly aware of every move she made.

Once it came time to put Crissy down for her afternoon nap, he decided it was now or never to find out once and for all, whether whatever it was he was feeling was real or not. He followed Hermione into the room next to the kitchen where she was busy folding laundry. Her back was turned towards him so she didn't see him enter in behind her.

He walked up to her until he was less than an arm's length away from her. He reached up and pulled the clip out of her hair, something he's wanted to do for a long time and watched as her hair fell gracefully around her shoulders just as he imagined it would.

She gasped in surprise and whirled around to face him. "Jeeze's Malfoy. Your scared the hell out of me."

She whacked him in the arm with a sock that she had been holding. "Did you need something?" she eyed him nervously, obviously sensing that he was up to something.

"Yeah I do actually." He smirked but tried to stay calm so he would do anything stupid making her want to bolt.

"Where's Crissy?" she asked trying to look around him.

He stepped closer, causing her to step back. "She's sleeping."

"Oh my gosh, I completely lost track of time. I'll just…" she tried to step around him but he caught her.

"She's already asleep. So if you go back in there to check on her she'll just wake up and then it would be impossible for her to go back to sleep." If she thought she could get away from him then she was mistaken.

"Fine," she turned so she was facing away from him again. "So what did you need?"

He could tell her breathing had changed and her cheeks were flushed. "I need to ask you a favor."

Her shoulders stiffened. "What kind of favor?" she asked nervously still not turning around.

"Turn around Hermione." He said trying to soften his voice as much as he could.

She huffed out a sigh and if he wasn't mistaken heard her curse under her breath and turned around crossing her arms over her chest, clearly putting up her guard around him. "What do you want Malfoy?"

He stepped forward crowding her personal space until she was backed up against the wall. Leaning in so he was able to put his hands on the wall next to her head, boxing her in.

"What are you doing?" she asked nervously.

"Kiss me."

Her eyes widened. "Are you mad?" she asked trying to move away from him, but he stopped her by leaning in closer.

"Possibly." He murmured looking at her lips. "It's probably a mistake, but I need to know once and for all if this is real or not."

"If what's real or not?"

"Whatever the hell is going on between us? This maddening attraction. I can't figure out if it's because were stuck in this situation together or if it's actually real? And right now the only thing I can think about is what you taste like."

She sucked in a breath and her chocolate eyes widened even more.

"And I know you want to kiss me too."

"Why do you think that?" she asked breathlessly.

"Because you're breathing rapidly, your cheeks are flushed and you keep looking towards my lips. Admit Granger. You want to kiss me just as much as I want to kiss you." His heart was pounding, he knew this was a mistake but he couldn't stop.

"This is completely mental Malfoy." She said crossing her arms tighter around herself.

"Fine then prove it. If you don't feel anything towards me, then kiss me and we'll see if it's nothing or not."

"And what if it's not nothing?" she whispered.

He thought about it. "Then I'm sleeping on the sofa tonight."

He took his time moving in closer to her, studying her jawline, her pert nose with a dusting of freckles across it, her full lips and her large brown eyes that had darken from a milk chocolate to a dark chocolate color and were watching him nervously. He lifted one of his hands from the wall to her face.

She jerked a little. "What are you doing?"

"Touching you." He murmured as he cupped her cheek and leaned over her.

The palm of his hand slid to the back of her neck as his fingers tangled into her hair, his lips drawing closer and closer to her. He positioned himself so she was completely surrounded by him.

She let out a sigh. "Just get it over…"

He cut her off with his lips and pulled her closer to him. Mistakes shouldn't feel like this, mistakes should feel like torture and just plain wrong. And yet the second his lips touched hers all his frustrations and anxiety over this just disappeared. He pulled her closer to him, pressing her chest against his as she opened her lips and surrendered to his kiss. What started as a soft press of his lips against hers turned into a series of long demanding, delicious kisses. He slipped his tongue inside her mouth to taste her. Pure heaven was all he could think of to describe it.

She moaned a little and dropped her guarded stance. She put her hands on his shoulders, her fingers gripping his shirt in her fist as if she wasn't sure if she wanted to pull him closer to shove him away. After several moments later of exploring each other's mouths he finally pulled away breaking the kiss. He cursed under his breath and leaned his forehead against hers and looked at her. Her eyes were heavy lidded and slightly glassy and her lips were red and puffy.

"I was afraid of that. Honestly I was hoping you'd be a sloppy kisser."

She became alert and pushed him away. "You kissed me hoping I would be bad at it?"

He ran a hand through his hair, "Well yeah. It would have made my life a lot easier if you had been."

She narrowed her eyes at him and let out a disgusted grunt, then grabbed the laundry basket full of clean cloths and shoved passed him leaving him alone in the laundry room.

"What did I say?" he called after her.

But she didn't answer. Okay so he lied. He really didn't kiss hoping she would be rubbish. He kissed her because he bloody well wanted to. And didn't know how, but he knew before his lips touched hers that she would be perfect at it. He had to stay in the laundry room for a few moments before he left to compose himself. His hands, his whole body was shaking so badly, he had to lean against the wall for fear he would shatter into a million pieces on the floor.

Hermione practically ran to the bedroom, short of breath and pulse racing as she kept a white knuckle grip on the laundry basket in front of her. Dropping it on the large bed she ran into the bathroom shutting and locking the door behind her. What the bloody hell just happen? Not only did she let Malfoy kiss her, she had an entire snogging session with him. In the laundry room no less.

And the ass was just using her as always, kissing her just to prove to himself that he was right and that she was bad at it just as he suspected. She walked over to the sink and stared at her reflection in the mirror. Her face was on fire, eyes bright, lips red and swollen and her hair all askew. She turned on the tap and let the cold water run over her hands then splashed some on her face and neck to cool off her overheated skin.

She knew the minute she saw him in the laundry room behind her what he wanted. And she wanted him to kiss her the second he suggested it. She wanted to scream _yes_ and fling herself at him. Thankfully she managed to keep her hormones under control enough to keep some dignity about her.

She could not believe that the first actual kiss she experienced with anyone had to be from none other than Draco Malfoy. And the worst part was she enjoyed it…a lot…to much actually. Yet she couldn't tell if it was real or not, for all she knew it could be all her pregnancy hormones that were causing her to enjoy it so much.

But she did know that it couldn't happen again. No matter how much she wanted it to…they just couldn't because it would ruin everything. Once she got herself under control she unlocked the door and walked out.

"Ahh!" she yelled when she saw him in the bedroom poking through the laundry. "Stop doing that!"

He raised his eyebrows in question. "Stop doing what?"

"Sneaking up on me like that. You need to start wearing a bell or something so I can hear you coming."

"I didn't sneak up on you. I just walked in here as you were coming out of the loo. Would you prefer it if I announced myself every time I enter a room?"

She glared at him and snatched the laundry basket away from him, needing something to do with her hands. "Don't you have something else better to do besides watch me fold laundry?" And torturing me, she thought to herself.

He crossed his arms over his chest and smirked at her. "Since Crissy's still napping, I can think of a lot of things I liked to be doing right now."

Her cheeks flared up and she could feel him staring at her. "No Malfoy." She said standing her ground; she was not going to fall for his bait this time. "What happened back there cannot happen again."

He sat down at the edge of the bed, still not dropping his smirk. "Why not Granger?"

"You know perfectly well why not. Absolutely nothing good could come from it and it would just complicate everything and make everything…" she couldn't think of the right words.

"Complicated." He provided for her and smirked when she glared at him again.

"Exactly. It's just a bad idea all around."

He kept staring at her, probably hoping she would submit to him and throw herself at him, and when she didn't he sighed. "Fine then, it was worth a shot." And got up to walk out the room, before turning around once he got to the door. "Don't forget we have to be at Blaise and Pansy's in a couple of hours." Then left her alone with the laundry.

And sadly she was left all hot and bothered all over again. Damn him!


	7. Chapter 7: The Engagement Party

Chapter Seven: The Engagement Party

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione stood in her closet trying to figure out what to wear. What the hell did one wear to a Pansy Parkinson event? Was it okay if she wore a t-shirt and jeans or did she need to wear a dress? The invitation said informal. But that could still mean anything. Ugh this was so frustrating! This is one of the subjects she did not excel in…fashion.

She looked through all the clothes she had hanging in the closet, until she found a cute simple sundress with royal blue flowers all over it. It had an empire waist, so it would be nice and loose around her tummy. It was casual but not too casual and not overly fancy either. She took if off the hanger before she could change her mind…again.

She laid it on a small upholstered bench that was placed along the back wall of their walk in closet and began to pull off the t-shirt that she had been wearing. When she heard a clearing of throat, heard him clearing his throat. She spun around clutching her hand over her chest.

"What did I tell you about knocking?" she yelled at him clutching her hands tighter to cover up her chest.

She still had her bra on, but she didn't want him to see it. Even though her hands weren't doing a damn thing, since she kept noticing his eyes wondering over her torso and back up.

He shrugged. "I cleared my throat. I figured that was enough to announce my presence without having to make a big spectacle about it." He smirked.

"You know when I'm in here changing you're not allowed to come in. and I give you're the same privacy. That's why we agreed to knock if one of us needed anything."

"I never agreed to anything like that. That was your rule that you made up and just assumed I follow along with it. But you should know by now that I'm not one who usually plays by the rules. Besides it's not like you were naked or anything."

She just glared at him. "What do you want Malfoy?" He started to step into the closet. "Don't come any closer!" she stopped him. "Just say what you have to say and get out."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Are you scared of me Granger?" he teased.

"No…I just want some space and privacy when I change clothes."

"I'm just going to grab a shirt and then I'll leave you alone."

This time she rolled her eyes and turned around. Quickly grabbing her dress and throwing it over her head, then over her body. She still had her jeans on, but she wasn't going to remove them until he left the room.

It wasn't until he left and went into the bathroom to take a shower that she removed her jeans and put on some wedge sandals that went well with her sundress, and then walked out of the bedroom to get Crissy ready for the party.

Hermione was putting together Crissy's diaper bag when Draco walked into the room, wearing dark jeans and a black button up shirt that was rolled up to the elbows. With her super sensitive nose she could smell him from all the way across the room. And he smelled amazing, sort of a spicy, woodsy smell that wasn't too strong or overpowering, just right and perfect.

He went over to Crissy's playpen and picked her up. "Well don't you look pretty." He told Crissy.

Hermione dress Crissy in a teal green baby doll dress with purple poka dots. And put her hair in curly pigtails, secured with tiny purple bows.

"Are you ready to go?" he asked walking towards her.

She was packing Crissy pajamas into the bag, "Yeah just a second." She packed in an extra bottle and her blanket. "Do you know who will be at the party?"

"How should I know Granger?"

"I don't know. You know Pansy a lot better than I do. Who usually comes to her parties?"

"I don't know Granger. I've never been to an engagement party thrown by Pansy."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him.

"Honestly she's never had many friends except me and Blaise and a few other Slytherins."

Hermione looked away and bit her lip.

"You know you're cute when you get all nervous." He teased her.

She glared at him.

"You got all nervous and worried the other night and it turned out fine. I'm sure nothing is going to happen tonight. And I have no idea who is going to be there and who's not going to be there. So I'm in the same boat as you of not knowing anything. For all I know it could be just you and me attending tonight."

"I'm not nervous. I just don't like going into something blindsided and unprepared."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "We're going to a bloody party not into battle."

They arrived at Blaise and Pansy's house. It was almost impossible to find since they had to drive all the way out there, instead of just apparating. They were driving for Crissy's sake.

Hermione was nervous, she didn't mind hanging out with Blaise and Pansy, but she really didn't want to spend the evening surrounded by Slytherins or other various people she didn't know. She parked their van in the driveway of a posh looking Tudor style house. At night the exterior of the house looked dark and cold, but she had no doubt that in the daylight it was breathtaking.

Draco unbuckled Crissy from the back as Hermione grabbed her purse and the diaper bag. They walked up to the front door and waited as Draco knocked loudly three times on the door. Pansy opened up right away with a huge smile on her face as she greeted them. Pansy immediately gave Hermione a tight hug, something Hermione still wasn't quite used to yet. She tried to relax her tense posture as much as possible.

"I'm so glad you made it." She squealed then looked past Hermione's shoulders at their vehicle, "But you didn't have to drive here. You know you're more than welcome to apparate here anytime." Pansy said.

Whoops, so much for trying to do things as normally as possible. "Well we were in the area anyway, so we just decided to drive." Hermione lied since she couldn't really tell them they weren't exactly allowed to use magic.

Draco bent down near her ear. "I told you we should have apparated." He whispered so only she could hear.

She swatted him away with her hand; she didn't need him that close to her, her nerves were already all over the place as is. "It doesn't matter now since we're already here." She whispered back.

Blaise walked up behind Pansy to greet them. "Ah mate you made it!" Blaise said to Draco as they shook hands.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Draco said back then handed him a bottle of expensive aged firewhiskey as a house warming gift.

When did he have time to go pick that up, she had no idea. For all she knew he had a stash of it in their house somewhere.

Blaise accepted the gift and glanced at the label with approval. "Very nice." He said then in a stage whispered spoke to Draco. "We guys are definitely going to need it after this party. You don't even want to know what Pansy has in store for this evening."

Pansy smacked Blaise in the arm. "Hey I'm standing right here you know. And I can guarantee that this evening will be a blast." Blaise rolled his eyes, as Pansy stepped up towards Draco. "Let me take this precious little girl off your hands as you join everyone else in the living room." Pansy reached out and took Crissy, who went willingly into her arms. "How's my precious little girl?" Pansy cooed.

"Pan-y" Crissy said tugging on Pansy's long hair.

Hermione but back a snicker, it almost sounded like Crissy called her Panty. She glanced towards Draco who was also trying hard not to smile. She heard laughter coming from the other room that wasn't from Blaise. She was nervous but also curious to see who else was here.

She followed Draco into the living room and immediately broke out into a huge grin as she recognized two men she would know anywhere. One with ginger hair and the other with dark rumpled hair and glasses. She shot passed Draco and ran towards the two men in question.

"Harry!" she practically screamed and threw her arms around him.

Harry looked shocked and surprised at her outburst, but hugged her back.

"You have no idea how good it is to see you."

Harry laughed. "It's good to see you too Hermione."

She pulled away and lunched herself at Ron. "And Ron! You look so grown up I can't believe it." Ron looked uncomfortable but hugged her back anyway. "What are you guys doing here?"

She kept staring at them. They looked exactly the same…but grown up. It was completely mind-bogglingly.

"We were invited of course." Ron laughed as if it was completely normal that they got invited to a party hosted by Blaise and Pansy.

"The loo's free." Hermione heard someone say behind them.

Hermione turned to the female voice behind her and she could have sworn that her eyes bugged out of her head or at least he jaw was about to hit the floor.

"Ginny?" Hermione said in shocked awe, her eyes tearing up as she watched her waddle into the room.

"Ginny you're pregnant!" Pregnant was putting it lightly; she looked like she was about to combust, Hermione walked towards her, still in complete awe. "Oh my god, I can't believe it." Suddenly it hit her, if Ginny was pregnant, than that meant that her and Harry were…she looked at Harry who was smiling proudly at his…wife? "Harry you finally did it." Hermione smiled.

Harry looked confused. "Uh did what?"

"You and Ginny are married!"

Harry, Ron & Ginny took this opportunity to stare at her as if she gone mad.

She felt someone's arm go around her waist and was lightly tugging…or more like dragging her out of the room.

"Don't mind her; she's been out of it all day. Hasn't gotten very much sleep." Draco announced to the group, once they were out of earshot he bent down and whispered to her. "What is wrong with you? They are going to think you've gone completely mental. For all we know we could have hung out with them last week. And clearly the Weaslette in there has been pregnant for a while now. I'm sure that's something you would have known already instead of just discovering it today."

Hermione blushed. "I'm sorry okay. I was just caught off guard that's all and I wasn't exactly expecting all three of them to be in attendance tonight."

"I know I was just as shocked to see them here myself. But we need to be more careful, anymore slipups and everyone is going to wonder what is going on between us."

"Okay, okay I get it. Now can we please go back in there? I want to see my friends." She had to admit she felt a little embarrassed that she was the one getting out of hand, when normally she was the one telling him to play it low key.

They walked back in the room, Draco still had his arm around her waist and when she tried to move away he would snag her back to his side.

"You can let go of me. I'm not going to do anything stupid."

He looked down at her and smirked. "I know."

She rolled her at him. Ugh he is just messing with her…again. She tried to pull away from him again and this time he let go. She walked into the room as nonchalantly as possible. Luckily everyone was busy talking amongst themselves so it wasn't like they were waiting around for her to give an explanation of herself. Ginny came up to her and pulled a tiny bag that she hand shrunk down magically out of her pocket and handed it to her.

Hermione took it. "What's this?" she asked.

"There some of the maternity clothes that you lent me. The ones meant for your second trimester, as you can see I out grew them and don't need use of them anymore." Ginny said rubbing her belly. "And a little birdy told me that you're expecting."

"Hmm, well that little birdy was correct." Hermione said smiling.

"That's wonderful! Congratulations!" Ginny reached out to hug her, but her belly collided with Hermione, which made both girls burst out laughing and leaned in for an awkward over the belly hug. "I swear I'm like a walking road block with this thing" Ginny gestured towards her huge belly. "I can't go anywhere or do anything without ramming into something."

"Haha, well it's a good look for you." Hermione said.

"Oh god, don't let Harry hear you say that, if it were up to him he'd get me pregnant again as soon as this one pops out."

Hermione laughed. "You say that now, but once you have one you're going to want another."

Ginny smiled. "So how far along are you?"

"Almost 10 weeks." She completely guessed, since she really had no clue.

"Wow, you're that far already? Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Well we didn't plan it, so we weren't really expecting it to happen so soon. And we actually just found out about it recently." That was close, Hermione thought; they were heading into unknown territory with this conversation. "You would think I would notice all the warning signs, but I just thought I had the flu the first couple of weeks." That sounded believable right?

"Have you met Ron's new girlfriend yet?" Ginny asked.

"No. Who is she?"

"Her name is Vicky, she's from Australia."

"Australia? What is she doing all the way up here in England?" Hermione asked intrigued.

"Ron met her there when he was down there for a holiday. Apparently it was love at first sight. He thinks she's the one."

"Really?" Hermione glanced over at Ron who was talking to a blonde woman with tanned skin and violet eyes, she didn't even notice her when she came in the room, and she was too busy getting over the shock of seeing Harry and Ron.

"He's only known her for two weeks and yet he's completely smitten."

They made a cute couple Hermione thought. "Do you like her?" she asked Ginny.

"Yeah she's okay, but I haven't really gotten to know her all that well. Ron's to busy keeping her all to himself. She kind of reminds me of Lavender Brown only less crazy and less clingy."

Hermione snorted. "I don't think anyone can be as crazy as Lavender."

Hermione and Ginny walked up to Vicky who was now talking to Pansy, who was still holding Crissy on her hip. Crissy obviously loved the attention she was getting. Hermione introduced herself to Vicky and soon the four girls easily fell into conversation, mainly to gossip. Pansy handed Crissy off to Ginny as she went to the kitchen to grab some appetizers for the guests. Hermione glanced over at the boys who were also in some deep conversation…well maybe not deep since one of them would crack up laughing at something someone else said and then thump each other on the back, the way guys do when they're having a good time with their friends. To her surprise Draco seemed to be having a good time with Harry and Ron at least he was laughing at something Harry said, but not in a condescending kind of way.

A little later on she followed him into the kitchen to refill her glass ice tea and gets some munchies. Draco was getting another drink as well. After she made sure they were alone she stepped up to him.

"Thank you." She told him.

He looked over his shoulder at her, noticing she was behind him for the first time. "For what?" He asked warily.

"For being nice to my friends."

He rolled his eyes. "I wasn't doing it for you. I only did it so they wouldn't get suspicious and start asking questions."

She smirked. "Sure keep telling yourself that Malfoy." She teased.

She snuck around him to grab a carrot stick that was on a vegetable platter on the kitchen counter in front of him. When she turned to leave he grabbed her wrist and stopped her.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I'll continue to play nice with them if you give me a kiss in return."

Hermione tensed. Goosebumps raised up on her skin as his lips came dangerously close to grazing her earlobe as he spoke to her. Heart pounding she managed to escape the hold he had on her wrist and move so there was a good three feet between them.

"Nice try Malfoy, but it's not going to happen." She was proud of herself when her voice came out steady and not shaky and unnerved as her insides felt.

He stared at her in that intense way of his, like he did earlier when he trapped her in the laundry room, one side of his mouth tilted up as he began to smirk at her. "Keep telling yourself that Granger." He threw her words back to her.

He came towards her then, and no matter how much she felt like running, her feet stayed put, not moving an inch. She stared at him, wide eyed as he came closer. He reached out and she could have sworn he was about to touch her face, when he grabbed the carrot stick out of her trembling hand instead, and took a bite. Then without another word walked past her back into the living room.

Once she was alone in the kitchen she let out a shaky breath. Get over yourself, he's just messing with you, he gets some sick pleasure with making you squirm, he doesn't actually want anything to do with you, she mentally kept telling herself. Grabbing a few more carrot sticks, since he took hers, she left the kitchen to get back to the party.

Hermione managed to avoid Malfoy most of the evening, every now and then she would feel his eyes on her. During the dinner portion of the evening, she made sure to sit on the opposite side of the table as he did. She was occupied feeding Crissy anyway, so nobody seemed think it was strange that she wasn't sitting next to him.

It wasn't until after dinner that things became interesting and not necessarily in a good way. When everyone entered the living room once again, Hermione noticed that the furniture had been completely rearranged and duplicated, the sofa and side chairs had been replaced, and what was once a basic living room setup was now transformed into four loveseats that were placed into a circle in the middle of the room. Everyone crowded off to the side wondering what was going on. Hermione and Ginny shared a glance of confusion.

"Oye, what's all of this?" Ron asked.

Pansy squeezed through the crowd until she was standing front and center in the living room. "Oh good it's all setup." She clapped. "Okay listen up everyone, for the remainder of the evening we're going to play a special game."

"Oh bloody hell, here we go." Hermione heard Blaise mutter somewhere behind her.

"I saw this on the telly the other day and thought it would be absolutely perfect for this evening."

Since when did Pansy Parkinson watch the telly? Of course she really didn't know Pansy all that well, so she had no room to judge.

"Okay Harry and Ginny you take that love seat there." Pansy pointed to the loveseat on the far wall.

"Vicky and Ron, you sit in the one across from them. And Hermione and Draco you sit on the loveseat by the windows."

Everyone reluctantly took their assigned seats. The loveseat was more like an extra-wide chair, barely enough room for two people. Hermione sat down first and Draco followed after her. So much from avoiding him all night, now she was smashed up against his side, with no room to scoot away. Their bodies were touching from shoulder to hip, and hip to knee. Hermione tried her best to move away from him as much as possible, but had no such luck. All the while he just smirked at her discomfort and draped his arm around the back of the chair to make more room for himself and her. She sat as straight as possible and refused to lean into him the way her body wanted to.

As they waited for further instructions, she could feel his fingers playing with the ends of her hair and she did her best to just ignore it. But it became almost unbearable when his fingers started stroking and tickling the back of her neck. Her body shuttered without her consent. She tried to elbow him in the side, but they were so mushed together in this seat it was almost impossible to move.

"Stop it!" she whispered fiercely to him.

"What was that honey? I didn't catch that." He teased.

"I said stop that." She tried to twist around to swat his hand away but failed.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"Yes you are. Now cut it out." She glared at him.

He snickered at her, but fortunately his fingers stopped playing with her neck. At least now she could semi concentrate again; she couldn't think when he did things like that. Crissy was playing on the ground in the center of all the action surrounded by various toys. It was already way past her bedtime and Hermione debated whether or not she should go put her down to sleep in one of the bedrooms.

As if reading her thoughts Draco leaned in serious now and whispered. "Maybe she'll sleep through the night if we let her stay up a bit longer." She nodded in agreement, but she still didn't like the idea of disrupting her routine that Crissy was used to.

"Okay now that everyone's situated we can get started." Pansy said getting everyone's attention. "Okay so the game that we're going to play is a relationship game. Where you take couples in different stages in their relationships and ask them questions to see which couple knows each other the best."

All the boys in the room either groaned or looked around completely confused. Hermione had a really bad feeling about this.

"So in this case Ron and Vicky will represent the dating couple, Blaise and I are obviously the engaged couple, Harry and Ginny are the newly married couple and Draco and Hermione are the old married couple…well not old of course but you've been married the longest, so you're more experienced. In a bit I'm going to ask the boys to leave the room as I ask the girls a series of questions and they we'll write our answers down, then I'm going to call the boys back in and ask them the same questions. If your answer is the same as your partner then you get a point. And the couple with the most points wins."

"Exactly what questions are you going to be asking?" Ron asked nervously.

"They'll be questions about your relationships like where you met, first kiss, things like that."

Hermione's stomach dropped, she didn't know any of that stuff about her and Draco. There was no way they were going to do well at this. Of course it was just a game…not a test or anything.

"What do we get if we win?" Ron asked again.

"The title of being the best couple." Pansy said, the boys all groaned again, she rolled her eyes at them. "Okay so you'll get two tickets to the quidditch world cup in Ireland."

"What! Where did you get those? I thought they were sold out." Blaise asked shocked.

Pansy shrugged. "I've got connections."

"You mean you've had them the entire time? Why give them away when we could use them for ourselves?" Blaise whined.

Draco snorted at that. "Blaise that's not very good sportsmanship. Besides if you win then you can use them." He told him.

"You mean when we win!" Ron chimed in.

"We'll see about that Ron. Harry and I will send you guys each a postcard from the World Cup when we win the tickets." Ginny said.

"Ginny look at you. Your about to explode and the World Cup is three months away. Surely you'll be too busy taking care of your baby." Ron teased his sister.

"Or I'll just give you a call and you can come over and babysit while Harry and I have a nice holiday in Ireland."

"Okay, okay. So does that mean everyone wants to play?" Pansy asked excited.

Everyone nodded while Hermione just shrugged. "What you don't want to go to the World Cup?" Draco asked quietly.

She glanced over at him. "You do know that we don't have a chance in hell at winning this right? We don't know anything about each other."

He shrugged. "So we'll just either guess or make stuff up." Hermione sighed; this was going to be a disaster.

"Okay so boys will you please leave the room. And wait until we call you back in. and no cheating!" Pansy said.

Before the boys left Hermione made Draco take Crissy with them and told him to try to get her to go to sleep. Crissy was starting to get fussy probably because she was so tired. Hermione pulled out her special dragon from the diaper bag and handed it to Crissy, then handed the bag to Draco which had diapers and her pajamas in it.

Once the boys all left the room Pansy silenced the area so the boys couldn't eavesdrop from the kitchen. Then she handed out a piece of parchment to each girl, keeping one for herself. Then passed out enchanted quills. The quills had a special enchantment where the ink will only appear on the parchment when asked. So the idea was that Pansy would ask a question and the girls would have to write down their answer, but the parchment would remain blank until it was time to reveal its answer.

Some of the questions were fairly basic and generic, either about themselves or their partners. In Hermione's case they were questions about Draco like 'what was his favorite color?' _Um black_? Even though technically black wasn't a color. But she couldn't see him saying his favorite color was blue or something…maybe green. But she was going to take a wild guess and say his favorite color was black.

Other questions were more tricky like 'what did they do on their first date?' um? She couldn't really say dinner and a movie, but she needed to write something down…um…_stargazing up on the_ _astronomy tower_? She was embarrassed by such a cheesy answer, but she honestly couldn't think of anything else. Did Draco even take girls on dates?

And then there were questions that just made her blush like 'where did they first make love to each other?' How the hell was she supposed to know the answer to that? And why would she want to know? As far as Hermione was concerned Draco never touched her and she was artificially inseminated to make Crissy…and baby number two. Oh shoot, Pansy was already asking the next question, she needed to write down an answer…um _in the room of requirements_? Ack, she didn't like this question, and she definitely didn't want to know that kind of information about Ron, Harry and Ginny. But she didn't know what else to put…where else did people sneak off too at Hogwarts to snog and…do other things. Oh god unless they decided to wait until their wedding night to become intimate…but she couldn't' see Malfoy wanting to wait and she probably wouldn't have either, if given the choice.

Once Pansy asked and had all the girls answer 15 or so questions, they finally called the boys back in. Draco didn't have Crissy with him, so he must have been able to get her to go to sleep. Just looking at him now walking towards her, she blushed thinking about some of the questions they had to answer. It was definitely going to create an awkward night ahead of them.

"Okay so now that you boys are back. I'm going to ask the same questions to each of you one at a time and we'll see if your partner wrote down the same answer." Pansy said.

Draco sat back down next to her and draped his arm around the back of the chair behind her shoulders. "So do we have a chance at winning?" he whispered.

She glanced at him. "No not really." She whispered back.

Draco leaned back further in the chair crowding her space until she was once again plastered to his side.

"Okay so are we ready?" Pansy asked, everyone in the room nodded. "Okay then will start with the dating couple Ron and Vicky. Okay Ron first question. What is your favorite color?"

"That's the question? That's easy I was expecting something more detailed." Ron said clearly relieved to get such an easy question. "Um okay I guess my favorite color would be blue."

Vicky frowned.

"Okay Vicky what was your answer?" Pansy asked.

Vicky held up her piece of parchment displaying her answer. "I thought it was green." She said disappointed.

"It's okay babe will get the next one." Ron reassured her.

Next was Blaise and Pansy turn to answer the same question. "Purple." Blaise answered.

Pansy stared at him shocked. "Since when has your favorite could even been purple?"

Blaise shrugged. "It's always been purple. I thought you knew that?"

"Did you know his favorite color was purple?" Pansy asked Draco.

"He might have mentioned it once or twice." Draco said carefully trying not to laugh.

"Well what was your answer then?" Blaise asked.

"Well it clearly wasn't purple!" Pansy held up her parchment where the word _Gray_ was printed in her curvy handwriting.

Harry and Ginny went next and they didn't answer correctly either, Harry said green while Ginny said _red_. Maybe this wouldn't be that horrible after all if no one could answer a simple question like that correctly. Finally it was Hermione and Draco's turn. Hermione found herself holding her breath anticipating his answer.

"Black." He said simply.

A rush of air left her lungs; she couldn't help but smile as she held up her piece of parchment with the word _black_ written on it.

"Well finally someone got the answer right." Ron said.

"Good so Draco and Hermione get one point. Everyone else has zero." Pansy said glaring at Blaise. "Okay now Draco give your wife a kiss."

Hermione tensed. "What? Why?" she asked trying not to act panicky.

"It's part of the game. Each couple that gets a point also receives a kiss from their partner. It's to help encourage each other to keep answering the questions correctly." Pansy explained.

"Um well, I'm sure he doesn't want to kiss me right now. I uh have garlic breath from dinner. Not very romantic."

Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed her chin, but instead of kissing her lips like she thought he might do, he kissed her cheek instead.

"Oh come on man. You call that a kiss? She's your wife; you should kiss her like a man kisses his woman. Besides you shouldn't be shy. The way you two kissed each other at your wedding was practically pornographic." Blaise teased.

Hermione blushed a deep red. "It was not!" she said embarrassed, she couldn't imagine them getting carried away like that in front people much less in private.

"Okay so maybe it wasn't pornographic, but it probably would have been if you two were alone." Blaise winked.

Hermione blushed even more. All the guys laughed along with Blaise at Hermione's discomfort. Finally Draco grabbed her face again and kissed her hard on the lips. Hermione froze and stopped breathing. It wasn't until he softened his lips against hers that she melted against him. Damn him for having such a strong effect on her. The kiss ended as quickly as it had begun. And when they pulled away the crowd cheered. Was it really necessarily for them to start clapping over a stupid kiss? Draco just smirked next to her clearly enjoying himself as she blushed deeper and tried desperately to burrow down into the chair and hide forever.

The next set of answers started.

_If you had a choice between having a dog or cat for a pet what would you choose?_

_Ron: Dog_

_Vicky: Cat_

_(Ron & Vicky: zero points)_

_Blaise: Dog_

_Pansy: neither_

_(Blaise & Pansy: zero points)_

_Harry: Cat_

_Ginny: Dog_

_(Harry & Ginny: zero points)_

_Draco: Both_

_Hermione: Both_

_(Draco & Hermione: 2 points)_

Hermione wasn't entirely sure she wanted to win anymore, in fact she prayed that they would get every answer wrong from here on out. Anything to prevent her from having to publicly display affection towards Draco in front of her friends. Draco bent down to her; she was so tense she would probably break if someone touches her right now.

"You need to relax otherwise everyone is going to think something is wrong with you. We're supposed to be married so you have to at least pretend to like me." Draco whispered so only she could hear.

"I'll relax once this game is over." She whispered back.

"Is it that horrible for you to have to kiss me? Do I disgust you that much?" he asked harshly almost sounding upset and disappointed…hurt?

She looked at shocked he thought _she _was disgusted by _him_? "I thought it was you who was disgusted by me? This is why I'm finding it a bit unnerving that you even want to kiss me in the first place."

He sighed. "Let's not talk about this here." He said as if expecting the conversation was over.

"Well you brought it up." Hermione couldn't help but add.

He frowned at her.

"And for the record…I'm not disgusted by you…I'm just not used to all of this, like I said its unnerving and I'm not very good at having to pretend we're anything more than classmates."

"Well get used to it because I have every intension of winning this game." He smirked at her, back to his usual self, she rolled her eyes.

"Hey you two, I hope you're not over there cheating." Pansy said breaking them out of their conversation.

Draco wrapped his arm around Hermione's shoulders and smiled at Pansy. "No not cheating. Just whispering sweet nothings to each other." He said then winked at Hermione.

Hermione snorted and couldn't help but smile. Yeah that's exactly what they were doing just now…not. Draco didn't remove his arm from around her shoulders and she didn't make any move to remove it right away. It was already their turn again to answer question number three. _How many children do you want someday?_

Draco didn't take any time to think, instead answered immediately. "Four."

Hermione's eyes almost bugged out. "Four? You want four kids?"

He shrugged. "I was an only child. I wouldn't mind having a large family someday. Why what's your answer?"

"I said two, maybe three at the most."

"Hmm, we'll have to work on that then, I'll convince you some way or another that four is the perfect number."

She arched her eyebrow at him. "Right. Well I'm already carrying baby number two, so three and four are going to have to wait…for a while…a long while."

"Not unless this one is twins." He teased and reached out and rubbed her stomach.

She swatted his hand away. "I doubt it." She laughed.

The next questions were a bit harder since they had to do with everyone's dating life. _What did you do on your first date?_ Hermione cringed anticipating Draco's answer. He snuck a quick glance at her, she could tell he had no idea what to say and was a bit worried.

"Uh snogging up in the astronomy tower?" He said unsure.

She held up her parchment for him to see.

"Stargazing?" He said amused. "If I took you to the astronomy tower we wouldn't be stargazing, at least not for long." He winked at her. "Maybe I led you up there under the pretense of stargazing with an ulterior motive instead."

She shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever."

"So do we get a point?" Draco asked Pansy.

"You two had different answers." Pansy said.

"But they were close enough." He said back.

"We're still in the lead so it doesn't matter." Hermione told him.

Question number five: _How old were you when you started dating each other?_

_Ron: 24_

_Vicky: 24_

_(Ron & Vicky: 1 point)_

_Blaise: 19_

_Pansy: 19_

_(Blaise & Pansy: 1 point)_

_Harry: I was 16, Ginny was 15_

_Ginny: he was 16 and I was 15_

_(Harry & Ginny: 2 points)_

_Draco: 18_

_Hermione: 18_

_(Draco & Hermione: 3 points)_

Question number six:_ How does he take his coffee?_

_Ron: 2 creams and lots of sugar_

_Vicky: 2 spoonfuls of cream and lots of sugar_

_(Ron & Vicky: 2 points)_

_Blaise: Black_

_Pansy: with cream and sugar_

_(Blaise & Pansy: 2 points)_

_Harry: 1 spoonful of sugar_

_Ginny: 1 spoonful of sugar_

_(Harry & Ginny: 4 points)_

_Draco: Black_

_Hermione: nauseatingly strong_

_(Draco & Hermione: 4 points)_

"We're tied with Potter we need to step up our game." Draco whispered to her.

"The World Cup isn't for another three months, which means we probably won't be here any longer and won't be able to attend." She whispered back.

"I know but that doesn't mean I still don't want to win.

"Okay next question." Pansy said. "Where was the strangest place you've ever shared a kiss?"

Draco glanced over at Hermione and smiled. Hermione blushed; apparently he was thinking the same thing she was.

When it was their turn he answered. "In the laundry room."

Hermione held up her parchment, which read _Laundry room_, and blushed deeper thinking that it had only been earlier that day when it happened. The next question just made her want to disappear altogether. _Where was the first time you made love with each other?_ She purposely tuned out Ron and Harry's answers that was just something she never wanted to know or think about…ever.

When it was their turn, Draco started joking about it, "The question is where haven't we done it? Like this morning I couldn't get her off me."

Mortified she slapped his arm. "Shut up!" She hissed. "What is wrong with you?" She wanted to sink into the seat cushions and die.

"Ah I'm just teasing." He said as she crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him.

"Yeah, yeah you like to have sex with your wife we get it. So what's your answer mate?" Blaise asked laughing.

Draco sneaked a glance at Hermione, serious now…kind of. "Um in the room of requirements?"

Hermione cringed inwardly, was he reading her mind or something? She held up the parchment displaying the same answer. Without even really thinking about it now she turned her head to receive the kiss waiting for her. Getting more and more used to the feeling of his warm soft lips against hers. He tasted like coffee and chocolate…a really good combination. The more they did this the harder it was getting to pull away each time.

"Good answer Granger." He said against her lips.

"I can't help it if you're extremely predicable."

"Just so you know I've never taken any girl to the room of requirements before." He said.

"Then why did you say that?"

He shrugged and pulled back. "It just seemed like the right answer."

"Okay next question. Does your…oh…um?" Pansy stopped and looked nervously at Draco for some reason. "Um actually let's scratch number 10 and move on to question 11, um question 10 isn't necessary to this game. Okay so let's see…question 11 is…"

Why was Pansy acting so weird right now? She kept giving nervous glances towards Draco.

"Wait. Why are we skipping question 10? That's the one about the father-in-law right?" Vicky asked.

"Because it's not really necessary like I said. So moving on." Pansy explained…kind of.

As if catching on to something Hermione was completely not getting right now Ginny stepped in. "Yeah Pansy right, um maybe we should skip it." Ginny said nodding. "Right Hermione?"

"Uh?" she didn't know what to say so she just shrugged.

"Oh come on it can't be that bad or as revealing as some of these other questions have been." Ron said.

"Yeah and we actually have a chance at getting this one right this time." Vicky chimed in.

"Um okay." Pansy said unsure. "But you two don't have to answer if you don't want to. I can't believe I didn't catch it before. I should have known better." Pansy told her and Draco.

Hermione and Draco looked at each other confused. She couldn't even remember what the question was or what it was about or why this question was suddenly causing Pansy and Ginny to act all weird.

"What was the question?" Draco asked.

"Um…well it was um, do his parents like or get along with your partner?"

Draco shrugged. "Sure I guess. I mean they wouldn't have let me marry her if they didn't." He said as if it was no big deal.

He was met by nervous, confused and blank stares followed by a really uncomfortable silence. What was going on? Did they miss something? Why was everyone acting so strange?

Finally Blaise broke the silence. "Um your joking right mate? I mean you can't really be serious…are you?"

"Uh, why wouldn't I be serious?" He asked his friend, Hermione could feel the tension starting to form in his body next to hers. "What's going on? Why are you all acting so weird?" He asked tensely.

"Well we know it's a really sensitive subject for you…talking about your father, since he's in Azkaban …after what he did to Hermione."

All the breath left Draco in a whoosh and she could tell he was trying to control his anger. "He's where?" Draco asked in a harsh whisper.

"I'm sorry Draco it was just one of the questions on the game. Like I said I wasn't thinking." Pansy tried to explain.

Draco got up and walked out of the room leaving everyone gap after him. Hermione had no idea what was going on, how did everything change so quickly? Things were actually going well and she was actually starting to have fun.

She got up to go after him. "I'll just go check on him. Please go ahead and continue on with the game we'll be back shortly." She started to go but Pansy stopped her.

"Hermione I'm sorry I didn't catch it…"

"It's okay I didn't either. It's not your fault." Hermione tried to reassure her even though she still didn't know exactly what happened.

Hermione found him in a room that looked like an office of some sort. He was standing by a window looking out, his back was towards her. His shoulders were bunched and his hands were clinched in fists. She walked in and quietly shut the door behind her then silenced the room with a silencing charm so no one would eavesdrop on them.

He didn't acknowledge her when she walked towards him. "Draco?" she asked quietly. "Are you okay?"

"I just found out my father locked up in Azkaban. Why would I be okay?" He asked back angrily.

She walked a little closer. "I don't know what to say?" she said worried that his anger will make him do something drastic.

"Why do you even care Granger? You probably think that he's deserves to be locked up in prison since he was a deatheater; fateful servant to Voldmort. You probably hate him after everything he's done."

"I never said that." She whispered.

"But you thought it. Don't deny it Granger." He yelled angrily turning around he stocked towards her until he stood a couple inches from her face. "Don't you dare come in here trying to act like you care how I feel? Because I don't give a damn about you." She tried not to flinch at his cruel words. "To me you will always be a filthy mudblood and I will NEVER think otherwise." He whispered harshly.

Tears sprung in her eyes, she didn't know why he was so angry at her? She understood he was angry in general for what he just found out about his father, but what did she do to him? And she didn't know why his words were so hurtful, he's called her a filthy mudblood millions of times before, but never had it hurt so much as it did just then. She didn't know what to say. He started walking towards the door.

"Draco wait…" He stopped but didn't turn around, hand fisted at his sides. "Where are you going?"

"Out! Don't wait for me." He said harshly then apparated out of the room.


	8. Chapter 8: Seeking the Truth

Chapter Eight: Seeking the Truth

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling  
><em>

Hermione stood in the now empty room staring at the place where Draco just apparated from. What was she supposed to do? Where did he go? Was he going to come back? What was she supposed to say to everyone else still outside in the living room? She kept staring at the spot where he stood. Silent tears were running down her cheeks. How could things turn so bad so quickly?

A soft knock sounded outside the office door. Wiping her cheeks dry she let out a shaky breath and walked over to the closed door trying to figure out what she was going to say to everyone. Taking one more deep breath she opened the door.

Ginny stood on the other side. "Hi." She said weakly, her eyes peaked over Hermione's shoulder probably to see if Draco was in the room still.

"Hi," Hermione said back.

"I was on my way to the loo and thought I'd check on you guys to see if everything was okay." Ginny said and looked around the empty room one more time. "Where is Draco?" she asked.

Hermione cleared her throat. "He…he stepped out for a bit. I'm sure he meant to say goodbye, but he needed to leave to be alone for a while." Hermione said trying to keep her voice from cracking.

"Oh Hermione. I'm sorry. I can't believe none of us picked up on that silly question. I know how touchy all of this is for both of you, especially since it's barely been a year since it happened." Ginny said taking Hermione's hand and squeezing it reassuringly.

Hermione tugged Ginny into the office and shut the door behind them. "Ginny can I ask you something?"

"Of course Hermione, anything."

"Okay. This is probably going to seem strange, but please just humor me and don't ask why. But…what happened? Why is Lucius in Azkaban? What did he do?" Hermione asked biting her lip.

Ginny looked at her funny. "You mean you don't rem…"

"Please. Like I said just tell me…the truth. I need to hear it…from someone else. Please."

Ginny looked hesitant like she didn't want to tell it, but finally she nodded slowly. "Okay."

Draco sat in a dark empty corner of the Leaky Cauldron shooting back Firewhiskey like it was water and he was dying of thirst. But even that wouldn't clear his head. What the fuck happened? How the hell did his father end up in Azkaban…again? Was it Potter or Weasley…did they put him in there now that they're both Aurors for the Ministry or was it Granger? Was she the one responsible for putting him there? He vaguely remembered Blaise saying something about her being involved with his father's arrest.

After his fourth goblet of Firewhiskey he threw some money down on the table, enough to pay his tab then staggered out of the pub. He needed answers, so he went to the only place he could think of to get them.

He arrived in the atrium of the Ministry with a pop. He headed straight towards the Archives where they kept all the files of all registered witches and wizards in Europe. He knew exactly where to look from visiting his father at work all the time when he was a boy.

His father usually never liked him hanging around his office while he was working so Draco would walk around on his own visiting all the different departments. One day when he was about 10 years old and bored to death waiting for his father to finish his meeting with the Minister, he came across the room with all the files.

He couldn't look at just any file though, because they were confidential and they needed some kind of personal identification to open them. A single finger print did the trick, when he came across his families file. It had everything you could possibly want to know about in that file like family trees on both his father's side the Malfoy's as well as his mother's side the Blacks. There was a brief biography on each of his family members including himself. It also recorded all accomplishments as well as dishonors that happened in the family, which is why he figured if he wanted to know what, happened with his father, then he would find it there.

The Ministry was quiet on a late Saturday night; the only people there were security guards and various Ministry workers working late into the night. He walked up to the security guard outside the entrance to the archives.

"Mr. Malfoy." The guard nodded in greeting.

"Evening. I liked to look at my file." He said.

"Of course Sir." The guard said and stepped aside to open the door for him.

That was a lot easier then he thought it would be. When he was a boy he would usually sneak passed all the guards to get into places. But tonight he didn't want to cause any trouble and he was already drunk and that as bad enough.

He walked into the room and the guard shut the door behind him giving him privacy. He remembered exactly which row and section the Malfoy file was. He opened the drawer and pulled out a thick folder. To any other person the file looked to be stuffed with a few to many pages, but these folders were magically enhanced to store millions upon millions of information.

There was information about his family dating back to the early 1600's if not earlier in here. He sat down at a large wooden table in the center of the room and opened the folder. Now that he was here, he almost didn't want to know what happened. He was still shaking with anger over what he found out and he knew he was only going to get angrier once he knew the truth, but luckily the Firewhiskey was starting to kick in making him feel numb inside.

He came here to get answers and damn it he wasn't leaving until he figured out what happened. Taking a deep breath he opened the file. It was organized by names of each family grouping. He noticed Granger and him had their own section added to it. He ignored it for now and went directly to his father's section. The most recent date noted in the file was in front. And just his luck it was what he was looking for.

_August 16__th__, 2015; _

_Late Sunday evening of August 13__th__, Lucius Malfoy was arrested and sent to Azkaban Prison for kidnapping and attempted murder of his daughter-in-law, Mrs. Hermione (Granger) Malfoy and her unborn child. Mrs. Malfoy who was eight months pregnant at the time was home alone when Lucius Malfoy broke into her home. He was able to disarm Mrs. Malfoy and knocked her unconscious before apparating her to his summer home in Paris, France. _

_There he continued to torture her repeatedly with the Cruciatus curse over a period of 18 hours. Lucius Malfoy's son Mr. Draco Malfoy, a professional quidditch seeker for the Ballycastle Bats was out of town for an away game against the Chudley Cannons. His wife Mrs. Hermione Malfoy was not able to join him because healers ordered her strict bed rest for the remainder or her pregnancy. _

_After trying to contact her for several hours with no reply Mr. Malfoy left mid-game claiming he had a really bad feeling that something seriously bad happened since his wife never once missed his call or didn't reply back shortly after. He managed to contact his friend Mr. Blaise Zabini to check on the house and make sure Hermione was okay. Mr. Zabini reported the house being in complete shambles on the inside when he got there; glass shattered everywhere, furniture destroyed and in pieces all over the floor, walls smashed in. On wall reported having spatters of blood against it. He found Lucius Malfoy's cane lying on the floor of the living room and immediately reported that information to Mr. Malfoy._

_Once Mr. Malfoy found out what happened he then contacted Mr. Harry Potter and Mr. Ron Weasley, both Aurors for the Ministry to help him hunt down his father and find his wife. When they found where Lucius Malfoy was keeping Mrs. Malfoy, Mr. Malfoy managed to disarm Lucius and Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley were able to restrain him. Mr. Malfoy order Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley to lock his father up immediately._

_When they found Mrs. Malfoy, she was tortured to the point of unconsciousness, suffered from two broken legs, a broken wrist, bruised and cracked ribs, a concussion and internal bleeding. From the distress of the whole ordeal Mrs. Malfoy went into early labor shortly after arriving at St. Mungos._

_The chances of survival of both mother and child were minimal. The injuries to Mrs. Malfoy's body and the loss of so much blood were critical. And the stress of the situation could put the child's heath in danger. _

_Luckily Merlin was on both Mrs. Malfoy and her baby's side. The healers at St. Mungos managed to attend to them just in time. Mrs. Malfoy is expected to make a full recovery with very little complications. And the baby is in perfect health. You can say it was a blessing in disguise. After a horrifying event Mr. Draco and Hermione Malfoy welcomed a beautiful baby girl to they're family on the morning of August 14__th__, 2015._

_It was no secret that Lucius Malfoy a former Death Eater believed that pureblood wizards were superior to everyone else. And he wasn't happy when his only son married Hermione Granger a famous well known muggleborn. But reasons behind Lucius Malfoy's attack on Mrs. Malfoy are still unknown and the family doesn't want to comment on it at this time. _

_(For a more detailed report please see Hermione Malfoy's pensieve of the night of August 13__th__, 2015)_

Draco sat back in his chair raking a shaky hand through his hair. He was the one who sent his father to Azkaban, not Potter, not Weasley and definitely not Hermione. He couldn't believe his father would do something so horrible as that. The report said what happened, but it didn't say why he did it.

He flipped to Hermione's section of the file. It wasn't as thick as the rest of the folder, since she was the only witch on her side of the family. It had all of her grades from Hogwarts, birth certificates of both her and Crissy, and other various articles and facts about her. In the center of her section laid a vial inside the page. It was marked _August 13__th__, 2015 pensieve report of Lucius Malfoy_.

Draco grabbed it and took it out before he chickened out. He didn't want to see what happened, but he didn't really have any other choice and he still needed answers. A hidden compartment in the center of the table opened up and out floated a pensieve bowl. He grabbed the round disk and moved it closer to him. Taking a deep breath he poured the vial into the pool then went inside.

_13 Months ago…_

_The first image Draco saw was Hermione in bed reading a thick book; the bed covers barely covered her huge protruding belly. The house was peaceful and quiet. Then there was a loud sound like a slamming of a door then the sounds of breaking glass. Hermione looked up from her reading alert. He could hear heavy footsteps walking around outside the bedroom. Hermione looking scared and panicked grabbed her wand and silently slid out of bed. One hand gripping her want and the other laying protectively over her belly, she opened her bedroom door. _

"_Hello?" She called out. "Is anyone there?"_

_No one answered. Hermione walked out of the room and turned on the lights as she went down the hallway. _

"_Hello? Draco is that you?" she called out again._

_Still no answer. Hermione went into the living room. There was a lamp knocked over and shattered into little pieces on the floor. Hermione slowly walked over to inspect it, and then held her wand out._

"_Whose there? Show yourself!" she said louder._

_Draco saw his father sneak up behind her, his wand at the ready. He looked horrible. His hair unkempt, skin pale and pasty, about a week's worth of beard growth. He had a crazy look in his eyes. He looked broken and out of control. He never fully recovered from the last time he was sent to Azkaban, but Draco always assumed he would get better…not worse. And here he was clearly worse. _

"_You stupid girl." Lucius sneered._

_Hermione whirled around and gripped her wand tighter. "Wha…what are you doing here?" she asked backing away from him as he began to approach her. _

"_I plan to eliminate you."_

"_What? Why?" Hermione asked looking scared now. _

"_If I have to answer that then you're stupider then I thought." He started to raise his wand._

"_Expel…" Hermione started to say, but Lucius was faster._

"_Stupefy!" _

_Hermione's wand shot out of her hand as her body flew backwards and slammed into the wall behind her. Draco winced as he heard the crack of her skull hitting the wall. He wanted to move and help her but he couldn't move all he could was watch. Hermione barely conscious now began to slide to the ground, blood trickled down the side of her face as her head began to bleed. Lucius stocked towards her and wrapped his hand around her neck dragging her back up. Her hands tried to pry his hand off her as she struggled to breathe. _

"_Please. Don't do this." Hermione wheezed._

"_Shut up!" Lucius slapped her hard across the cheek. "I've tried everything to get Draco to leave you. But nothing seemed to work. He kept going back to you. Then he decided to marry you. Can you believe it? A Malfoy marrying some mudblood whore. And I tell you I almost gave up. But I knew I just knew that it wouldn't last. Eventually he would come to his senses and get rid of you once and for all. But then this happens." Lucius stabbed his wand at Hermione's stomach. "I knew I needed to step in and do something to get rid of this abomination. Once this thing is born it will defile the Malfoy name forever." He spat. _

"_No please." Hermione begged. _

_Draco was furious; this was his daughter Lucius was threatening. The scene changed then. And Draco noticed they were no longer in their home, but in a basement or dungeon of some sort. Hermione was chained to the wall, her hands shackled above her head. Her face was swollen and bleeding. And her legs lay limply beneath her barely able to hold her weight. Her left leg was clearly broken. Her eyes were shut and her head hung forward. For a second he could have sworn she wasn't breathing. But he knew she was still alive, otherwise she wouldn't still be here today._

_Lucius stepped out of the shadows, wand pointed at her. "You just don't know when to give up do you? You're definitely stronger than I thought." With a flick of his wand he broke Hermione's right leg. _

_The sound of bone breaking caused Draco's stomach to drop, but it was Hermione's screams that tortured him._

_Lucius laughed. "You stupid mudblood. He's not coming to save you. Because he doesn't even know you're here." _

_This wasn't his father…it couldn't have been. This was some kind of imposture, it had to be. His father was never one to make good choices in life, but he was never evil…more of a coward then anything. Never a monster like this. _

"_To him you're nothing. A true Malfoy wouldn't ever touch a mudblood like you. And since he doesn't have the spine to get rid of you himself, I'll do him a favor and do it myself." Lucius sneered. _

"_Please no." Hermione whispered._

_Draco heard movement behind him; Hermione's cries were loud enough that Lucius didn't hear it. Draco turned to see what caused the noise. In the far corner deep in the shadows behind where Lucius stood came Potter, Weasley and himself. Lucius sent the Cruciatus curse towards Hermione. The other Draco made a move towards her, but Potter and Weasley stopped him. _

"_Not yet mate. If he sees you now he could kill her on the spot." Harry whispered. _

"_Look at her. He's already killing her as we speak. I have to stop him." Draco sneered. _

"_Okay, but you need to take caution, no sudden movements. Try to reason with him and distract him for as long as possible. Ron and I will sneak up behind him so we'll have him cornered. Then we'll be able to disarm him."_

_Draco nodded with a pained look on his face. "I can't lose her." He whispered._

_Ron put a hand on his shoulder. "We know mate, she's not going anywhere. We'll get him, but like Harry said we need to be careful about it."_

"_Okay I'm ready." Draco said._

"_Remember try to distract him for as long as possible." _

_Draco nodded and stood up and walked out of the shadows. "Let her go." Draco said to Lucius. _

_Lucius turned around if he was surprised that he showed up then he didn't show it. "Ah Draco you came after all. Good this is working out just as I planned."_

"_I said let her go." Draco slowly approached him, wand gripped tightly in his hand. _

"_That's not going to happen." Lucius sneered as Hermione hung unconsciously against the wall behind him._

"_Why are you doing this?" Draco asked sounding surprisingly calm. _

"_I gave you everything growing up. And how do you repay me, by marrying that mudblood."_

"_Just let her go and we can talk about this."_

"_Let her go? You honestly think I'm going to let her go? I'll tell you what. I'll let her go if you agree to do one thing for me."_

"_What?" Draco gritted through this teeth._

"_Leave her and never talk to her again. You'll never be allowed to see her, talk to her, or touch her ever again. And you'll marry someone else of my choosing and then we can put all of this behind us."_

"_You're mad. What makes you think I'm going to do something like that?"_

_Lucius walked towards Hermione and pointed his wand at her stomach. "If you don't then I'll kill the child. The survival of the mudblood is undetermined , given the state she's in right now chances are she won't make it either."_

"_You monster! Get the fuck away from her!"_

_Harry and Ron snuck up behind Lucius, and Harry nodded to Draco giving him the go ahead. "Stupefy!" Draco shouted, wand pointing towards his father sending Lucius flying away from Hermione._

_Harry grabbed Lucius's wand as Ron sent a rope charm, tying up Lucius up as he continued to lay unconscious on the ground. Draco ran over to Hermione breaking her restraints. Still unconscious and unable to hold her own weight she collapsed forward into Draco's arms._

"_Get her out of here and to the hospital. We'll take care of him." Harry said._

_Draco nodded then apparated him and Hermione away._

_The scene changed again. They were in the hospital now. Hermione was awake and in labor. Her legs had been healed, but she was still so weak she could hardly move. The healers were about to operate on her to get the baby out. They said it was too dangerous for her to give birth the natural way due to all of her internal injuries. Draco stood by her side squeezing her hand as if his life depended on it. _

"_You came for me. You saved me." Hermione whispered weakly to him._

"_Of course I did love. I couldn't let him take you away from me." Draco told her his voice tight with emotion. "I couldn't lose you. I don't know what I would have done if I had. I love you Hermione so much. And I will never let him hurt you again." _

_Hermione nodded weakly. "I love you too Draco." She told him tears running down her cheeks."_

_The scene ended._

Draco pulled back gasping for air, he was once again in the archives room looking at the file in front of him. He leaned over the side and emptied the contents of his stomach in the wastebasket under the table. Once he was through vomiting he was shaking so badly he could hardly see straight.

He didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was all right there. His father had become completely mad and deranged since he last seen him. After what he did to Hermione and almost did to Crissy was unforgiveable and the bastard deserved to be locked away in prison.

Later that night Hermione lay in bed unable to sleep. Draco never did return to Blaise and Pansy's house. Ginny told her what happened and she still couldn't stop shaking from the chilling news. Blaise offered to go to the pub to look for Draco and talk some sense into him, but Hermione politely declined. She knew Draco needed to be alone right now. But he still hasn't come home either and now she was starting to get worried.

Hermione hated to admit it, but she was a bit nervous having to come home alone with Crissy to a dark empty house after she found out exactly what happened to her a little over 13 months ago in this very house.

Crissy was sound asleep when they left Pansy's house, but as soon as they got home Crissy woke up and was as fussy as ever. She must have sensed something was wrong because she wouldn't stop crying and kept asking for Draco. It broke her heart, but she finally managed to get her to go back to sleep.

She heard the door shut and the floor board's creak and she became alert. She hoped it was Draco. Hermione glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was 3:00am. She took her wand in her hand just in case and hid it under the bed covers. She didn't want to upset him any further so she decided to just wait and let him approach her when he was ready. She stayed in bed laying in the dark, heart pounding.

The bedroom door opened quietly letting in a sliver of light from the hallway, and then the door shut coating the room in darkness once more. She shut her eyes pretending to be asleep. She could hear him walking across the room. She could smell Firewhiskey coating his clothes and skin. The door to the bathroom shut and she could hear the water running.

She lay there in the dark listening to the sounds. He was clearly hurting, but she didn't know what to do or what to say. He made it clear earlier that night that he didn't want anything to do with her. The water turned off and shortly after the bathroom door opened and he walked out. Hermione again pretended to be sleeping. Now instead of alcohol she could smell his spicy soap that he liked to use. She heard his footsteps walking around to the other side of the bed; she then felt a shift in the bed, but not from the weight of another body. She wanted to desperately open her eyes and see what he was doing. But before she could do anything she heard the door to the bedroom open and then closes once again.

Hermione finally opened her eyes to the darkness of the once again empty bedroom. She looked over to the side of the bed and realized that he grabbed his pillow, which meant he was most likely going to sleep on the sofa tonight. She felt sick to her stomach, but at the same time relieved. At least he was home now, at least he came back. And right now that was all that mattered.

In the morning Hermione was nervous to go into the living room and kitchen to feed Crissy breakfast, but she needed to anyway, because Crissy was hungry. Quietly with Crissy in her arms she walked into the living room. Draco was still asleep on the sofa looking cramped and uncomfortable, tension was furring his brow.

She quietly padded into the kitchen passed the sofa and put Crissy in her highchair. Even though the smell of it made her sick she decided as sort of a peace offering that she would put on a pot of coffee to brew for him, strong just like he liked it.

She was feeding Crissy when Draco walked stiffly into the kitchen. She watched out of the corner of her eye as he went over to the cabinet to grab a mug and fill it with coffee. The aroma of the coffee was making her stomach turn but she refused to get sick. She continued to feed Crissy, sticking to her new motto; just let him come to her. She knew that he wouldn't yell at her in front of Crissy in the room or at least she hoped not. And she prayed he wouldn't lose his temper.

Draco cleared his throat. "About last night…" he started to say hoarsely.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sorry I interfered when I shouldn't have, it wasn't my place." She interrupted him.

"No I'm sorry." She looked over at him, did he just apologized? "I shouldn't have lashed out at you like that or said those things when you didn't even do anything wrong. I lost my temper last night. And I'm sorry."

Hermione shrugged trying to stay neutral on the outside, when her heart was racing on the inside. "You were angry. It was understandable."

He scrubbed a hand over his tired face. "Yes I was angry, but that doesn't excuse my behavior and you don't deserve to be treated the way I treated you last night or…the way I've been treating you in the past eight years."

She looked at him speechless, he started back her with an intensity in his eyes. She could tell he was being honest.

"Do you know why my father's in Azkaban?" He asked in barely a whisper.

She broke eye contact and looked at the ground. "You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to." She said not wanting to upset him again.

"But do you?" he pushed.

Tears welled up in her eyes before she had a chance to control them. She had to turn her head away so he wouldn't see that she was about to cry.

She nodded, "Ginny told me last night after you left." She whispered her voice rough with emotion.

Ginny didn't go into detail, but she knew that Lucius had completely lost his mind and kidnapped her and threatened to kill both her and Crissy if Draco didn't leave her. Ginny told her that it was Draco who saved her and order Harry and Ron to lock Lucius up in Azkaban.

Draco walked up to Crissy who was still in her highchair and ran his hand over her soft curls. Crissy looked up at him and smiled then went back to eating pieces of cereal on her tray.

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

Hermione couldn't tell if he was still talking to her or Crissy or maybe both of them. She couldn't look at him or Crissy. She got up and walked over to the kitchen sink.

"It doesn't have to be that way." She said softly.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

Hermione shrugged. "This. Once we get back to our normal lives and back to Hogwarts and go our separate ways, back to our separate groups of friends and we can just go back to avoiding each other. And as long as we continue to stay away from each other than…none of this will happen. And your father will never do what he did, because you'll probably go off and marry someone your parents both approve of and he'll continue to be a free man." She busied herself with doing dishes so he couldn't see her tearing up again.

Silence stretched out between them, she would have thought he left the room, but she knew that wasn't true, because she could feel him looking at her intently.

"But then there wouldn't be Crissy." He said softly, his voice sounded closer now as if he was standing right behind her.

Tears were rolling silently down her cheeks now. She put a protective hand over her stomach. She knew that, and that was the heart breaking reality of all of this. If her and Draco never got together in the future than there would be no Crissy or the other little baby growing inside her stomach, and it cut her like a knife.

She cleared her throat and squeezed her eyes shut trying to stop the tears from falling. "I know." She whispered.

She could still feel him behind her, his voice sounded horse. "I'm going to go grab a shower."

It wasn't until after she heard the bedroom door shut that she broke down in tears.

They spent the remainder of the day mostly avoiding each other. Tension was thick in the air surrounding them both. Though it wasn't a bad sort of tension, but not really a good tension either, more like a cautious tension if there was even such a thing. It was as if they were tiptoeing around each other, careful not to talk about anything to personal. Neither of them mentioned what happened last night and neither of them brought up the future either.

Draco spent most of the day playing outside in the backyard with Crissy in the late summer sun. While Hermione spent her time indoors in the cool air conditioning catching up on her reading. She only had six more parenting books to get through before she finished them all.

It was about 7 o'clock at night; Draco was in the living room playing with Crissy and her dragon Ga-ga. Hermione was in the bathroom preparing a bath for Crissy. Draco enchanted Crissy's dragon again and was enjoying watching Crissy try to chase it around the room. It was quite entertaining. The dragon would fly across the room then wait patiently for Crissy to come and get it.

Crissy would crawl towards it and as soon as she got close enough to catch it the dragon would fly somewhere else and land and wait for Crissy to come and get it again. Crissy would follow the dragon with her eyes, a frustrated look would come across her face every time it would fly away, but then it would be replaced by a look of determination. And off she would go crawling after it.

She was halfway across the room when she stopped mid-crawl. Crissy looked up at the dragon that was perched on the arm of the chair behind Draco's shoulder, then looked back down to the floor at her hands and knees. Out of nowhere as if she just discovered there was a faster way to get around the room besides crawling, she braced her weight on her two hands and tried to straighten her legs putting her two little feet on the ground. Slowly and a bit wobbly she started to straighten up. Standing up all by herself.

Draco became alert. "Oh my…Hermione." He whispered as he watched Crissy slowly get her balance.

"Hermione" he called out louder this time, he leaned forward arms stretched out ready to catch Crissy if she fell over. "Hermione! Get in here now!" he yelled out.

Crissy took one wobbly step forward then another.

"What? What is it?" Hermione ran in to the room panting, wand clutched tightly in her hand. She took one look at Crissy and sank to her knees next to Draco. "Crissy!" she whispered in awe. "You're walking! Oh my god Draco, she's walking!"

They watched in awe as Crissy scrunched her face up in deep concentration as she took one wobbly step after the other towards them.

Hermione stretched out her arms out. "Come here Crissy, you can do it. Come here baby girl." Hermione coaxed.

"Come on princess, come to daddy." Draco said.

The dragon was completely forgotten as Crissy made her way to her parent's arms. Absolutely loving all the attention she was getting from them she quickens her steps, becoming more confident in this new fun activity she just discovered. Almost a few more steps and she would be there. Crissy half ran and half pitched forward into them.

Draco caught her around the waist and lifted her high into the air above his head. Then brought her down and hugged her close. Hermione hugged her as well and leaned forward and kissed her chubby cheek repeatedly.

"Oh Crissy you did such a good job. You are such a good girl."

Crissy giggled completely unaware of the huge accomplishment she just made. Draco and Hermione continued to hold her close giving her praises right and left. All their focus was on Crissy that they didn't' realize how close they were to each other.

After a few more seconds of getting squeezed and kissed by her mummy and daddy, Crissy wiggled out of their embrace back to the floor and crawled over to her pile of toys.

Both Draco and Hermione sat there on the floor silently watching Crissy now play with her toys. Draco looked over at Hermione and was surprised to see tears running down her cheeks. Without thinking her reached over and wiped away a runaway tear with the back of his finger. With a gasped she looked over at him.

"Why are you crying?" he whispered to her.

As if she was self-conscious she looked away and wiped her eyes with her hands. "I'm just happy." She said looking at Crissy. "Do you realize what a huge stepping stone this is for her?" she smiled. "Soon she's going to be running around all over the place getting into anything and everything. And talking in full sentences, eating on her own and oh god potty training and then there's preschool and…"

"Whoa, slow down. Yes it was an amazing accomplishment what she just did. But it was only about 10 steps she far from being grown up; we still have plenty of time before all of that." Draco told her.

Hermione blushed and wiped her eyes once again. "You're right. I'm just…oh!" she looked down at her stomach, her eyes widen and her hand went to her stomach. "Whoa." She whispered.

"What? What's wrong? Are you going to get sick?" He asked looking around for something she could throw up in.

She shook her head and grabbed his hand and laid it on her stomach. "Do you feel that?"

He shook his head not entirely sure what he was supposed to be feeling.

She rolled her eyes and pulled his hand away so she could lift up her shirt exposing her stomach then grabbed his hand again and put it against the warm skin of her belly. He stared at his hand trying hard to concentrate on whatever it was he was supposed to be feeling instead of the feel of her soft skin beneath his hand. Hermione looked at her stomach concentrated hard biting her lip. He felt a tiny movement under his fingers. She looked up at him and their eyes met. He looked at her, then back at his hand and smiled.

"Was that?...was that…"

She nodded smiling. "Yeah it was."

They sat there in stunned silence willing the baby to kick again.

"Does it hurt?" he asked.

"No, it feels like a tiny fluttering sensation. He's not big enough yet to give a strong kick, but I can still feel it. I read in one of the books that once you already have a baby you're more sensitive to movements the baby makes earlier then you normally would with your first pregnancy."

"Huh," he nodded. "You're sure it's not just gas." He teased.

She shoved him away from her playfully. He lost his balance and fell over laughing.

"I think I would know the difference." She said trying to look serious but failed.

She rolled her eyes trying not to smile as she focused her attention back to Crissy. Draco sat back up again and scooted closer to her. His laughing died down as he watched her. Hermione was no longer smiling, but biting her lips instead. He reached up and caught a strand of hair that fell away from her clip and pushed it behind her ear, trailing his fingers down her cheek and down the base of her throat.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath then slowly turned her head to look at him. Their eyes locked. And before he talked himself out of it. He closed the distance between them and kissed her. Instead of being shy and unsure or fighting him off, she kissed him back without having to be coaxed into it and deepened the kiss.


	9. Chapter 9: Let's Just Be Friends

Chapter Nine: Let's Just Be Friends

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Hermione didn't have time to think. She didn't want to think. If she started thinking right now then it would ruin everything. Right now she just wanted to close her eyes tight and focus on the feel of Draco's warm soft lips against hers. The feel of his hands splayed across the small of her back pulling her closer to him. She helped out by wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, closing the tiny distance that was left between their bodies.

One of his hands came up to cup the back of her head, she felt her hair loosen and she realized he took the clip out that was holding her hair in place. She felt her soft curls fall down brushing across her shoulders and back as his fingers buried deeper into her hair softly massaging her scalp.

The tip of his tongue traced the crease between her lips, wordlessly asking her to open her mouth and let him in. She did so without second guessing herself. His tongue swept in slowly exploring the inside of her mouth with sure, confident strokes. He tasted like peppermint and smelled like outdoors on a spring day.

She met his tongue with hers, timidly and awkward at first, but by the way he moaned softly low in his throat when she did so she figured she was doing okay. She wasn't an experienced snogger, but she was a quick learner.

He nibbled on her bottom lip making her want to bite back a moan herself. He moved from her lips kissing along her jaw and down the column of her neck. She had to bite down on her lip to prevent herself from doing something that would truly embarrass herself. Who knew your neck could be so sensitive? She flexed her fingers after realizing that she was digging them into his shoulders, not that he was complaining about it.

Draco moved back up kissing the extremely sensitive spot below her ear. Sucking in a shuttering breath she made the mistake of opening her eyes. Suddenly everything came back to her. They couldn't do this, they shouldn't be doing this.

Damn it, why did she have to open her eyes and start thinking again, bringing herself back to reality? Draco must have felt her suddenly tense up because he pulled away slightly, but didn't let go of her.

"Everything okay?" he murmured.

"We probably shouldn't be doing this."

Frowning he pulled away from her. "Are you about to give me another lecture as to why we can't do this again?"

Ignoring his snide comment she went on. "You know we can't."

He scrubbed a hand over his face; his lips were swollen and pink from their kissing. "I'm finding it harder and harder to remember why that is exactly."

"You know why."

"Do you know why?" he countered.

Hermione crossed her arms over her chest getting annoyed. "Of course I know why." She said

He said nothing just arched his eyebrow at her.

She looked away from him. "I'm not right for you." She said quietly suddenly shy and unsure.

She felt his hand touch her cheek making her turn her head so she was looking back at him.

His eyes soften as he looked at her. "I don't care." He said sounding sincere.

She moved away from his touch. "That's not what you would have said six days ago before we got into this situation."

"You don't know that." He said quietly.

She looked him in the eye. "Really? So your saying that before we got partnered up in class together, or before we accidentally got stuck here together that you would have been open to the idea of hanging out with me for none school related activities, or talk to me and kiss me in front of your friends?"

Uncertainty flickered in his eyes. "I might have wanted to, but whether or not I acted on it would have been a different story."

"Well what's going to happen once we go back to Hogwarts? Would you come up to me in a busy corridor full of students and say hi or hold my hand and walk me to class? Be openly affectionate to me in front of your friends and all of the Slytherins? Or will you go back to being your old self and ignore me and pretend nothing happened between us and go back to playing humiliating jokes on me or insulting me like you used to do?"

Draco looked away from her. "I don't know Hermione." He looked back at her then. "I can promise you that I will never hurt you again, but I have no idea what's going to happen once we get back any more than you do. I don't know what's going to happen between us 10 years from now let alone a week from now. Hell I don't know what's going to happen two days from now." He tried to reach out for her hand but she pulled it away just out of reach.

"I just don't know if I can do this. And believe me, right now I just want to throw everything away and forget the past and just live in the moment, not caring about the consequences. But I can't. I can't just shut off my brain and let go without feelings getting in the way. For me it has to be all or nothing." Shaking her head she ran a hand through her mused hair. "Merlin, listen to me I sound like some crazy, neurotic, clingy girlfriend and we're not even together."

Draco nodded. "Neurotic and clingy maybe, but definitely not crazy." He teased obviously trying to lighten up the mood.

Hermione snorted trying not to smile.

"If you don't want to do anything then we don't have to. I'm not going to pressure you into doing something you're not comfortable with. I'm not that kind of guy."

Taking a deep breath she nodded. "I know." She said quietly.

Draco slanted his head studying her, one side of his mouth tilted up at the end. "You don't believe me do you?"

She laughed softly and shook her head. "No not really." She smiled shyly. "But right now I'll take your word for it."

He chuckled at that and nodded. "Okay so maybe we should just start over as friends and go from there?" He said.

Hermione thought that over. "Okay."

He nodded. "Good. So friends?" He held out his hand towards her wanting her to shake it.

Hermione eyed his outstretched hand and then back up to his face. Slowly she reached out her hand and grabbed his gently.

"Friends."

Once her hand made contact with his much larger hand she felt an electric tingle shoot up her arms and down to her toes. His long warm fingers gently wrapped around her hand and squeezed lightly to confirm the hand shake.

"Friends." He repeated softly staring into her eyes intently.

He didn't let go of her hand and she made no move to loosen her fingers around his. They sat like that for what seemed like minutes, when a tapping at the kitchen window broke their attention. Regrettably Hermione loosened her fingers pulling her hand away as Draco stood up and walked into the kitchen to retrieve the letter an owl hand sent.

Hermione sat back and leaned against the side of the chair watching Crissy play with her toys. What the hell was wrong with her? She was the biggest hypocrite ever. She wanted so badly to be with him, yet she told him she couldn't. And she wanted just for once to let everything go and do everything with him and when she backed away he accepted that and didn't push and now she was disappointed. He did what she told him to do and she was sad. She wanted him to fight and push her, but he didn't, he respected her wishes. And she definitely did not want to be friends with him, she wanted…more. And that thought terrified her.

He didn't exactly deny what was going to happen once they got back…if they ever get back. He would probably go back to being the ass he used to be and pretend nothing ever happened. She was afraid to let go, because she knew it would completely break her heart as soon as he turned his back on her once they go back to Hogwarts. She wouldn't be able to stand it. Even now she was pretty much doomed, because she was already well on her way of falling for him.

Crissy finished playing with her toys and crawled over to Hermione. "Mama." She said climbing into her lap and laying her head on her chest.

Holding Crissy to her she got up off the floor. Draco walked back into the living room reading the letter.

"Who is it from?" Hermione asked holding Crissy on her hip.

"My manager." He replied still reading.

"You have a manager?"

He looked up from the letter. "Don't sound so surprised." He smirked.

She shook her head. "So what did he have to say?"

"He said he needs to discuss something important with me tomorrow after practice."

"Hmmm, so is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked.

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'll find out tomorrow."

Hermione nodded. "Right well I'm going to give Crissy a bath and get her ready for bed."

"Are you sure about that?" Draco nodded his head towards Crissy who was fast asleep, laying her head against Hermione's shoulder.

Hermione looked down at her sleeping daughter. "Hmmm, well I guess a bath can wait until tomorrow."

She said quietly stroking back Crissy's soft baby hair off her forehead.

They both helped put Crissy down to bed. It took a team effort to change clothes on a sleeping baby, although once Hermione started to change her diaper, Crissy woke up and got really fussy. But once that was said and done she quickly fell back to sleep once her head hit the soft billowy mattress of her crib.

Hermione followed Draco out of the nursery quietly shutting the door behind them. An awkward silence now hung between them, now that their little buffer aka Crissy was asleep and it was just the two of them. Especially after the weird 'I won't to be with you, but I can't so let's just be friends' talk that took place between them moments ago.

Hermione decided she needed to be alone for a bit and since it was too early to go to bed she decided to do the next best thing.

"Right well since Crissy's asleep. I'm just going to go take a bath now."

Draco nodded. "Yeah okay."

As Hermione walked down the short hallway to the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

Draco watched as Hermione walked towards their bedroom. Once she closed the door he walked back into the living room and flopped down on the lumpy sofa turning the telly on. He didn't know what he was watching and he didn't really care since really he wasn't seeing anything anyway, just staring at it.

Scrubbing a hand down his face and sighing out loud. He could hear the water running down the hall, probably Hermione running her bath water, getting it to the right temperature before sliding her body into it, her naked body. Merlin that was something he shouldn't think about.

What kind of idiotic move did he just do when he decided they could just be friends? No way would he be able to keep a promise like that whenever he was near her. And that was just it, whenever he got near her, he couldn't seem to think straight, thus making crazy promises he most likely couldn't keep. Normally when a girl turned him down he would brush it off and move on to another girl who was willing. But this wasn't the case, he had no desire to get some sort of release elsewhere and it wasn't because they had to live in the same house and pretend to be married to one another.

He truly meant it when he said he would wait for her and take it slow…well he didn't exactly say all that to her in so many words. Instead he told her they could just be friends and take it from there. Although there was no way he could just be or stay friends with her. Not after he had a taste of her more than once. All they've done is kiss and yet each time her lips met his it was like an electric shock that ran through his entire body and he became completely tuned in to every move she made, every sound, touch. Only she existed and nothing else mattered. That has never happened to him before and he didn't know what it was about her that attracted him so much and it scared the shit out of him.

Especially since he actually did want to take it slow with her, only so he wouldn't scare her off. He was afraid once that happened then he would probably never get her to come around towards him.

Maybe if he kept his distance for a while…a friendly distance, then she would come around.

He didn't want to freak her out by coming on to strongly, it was quite obvious how inexperienced she was, so he had to be careful about this, and eventually let her know that this wasn't some sort of game he was playing at here, he truly wanted to be with her. He's never had to work this hard to get a girl before and it was confusing the hell out of him.

But he didn't know what was going to happen once they got back to Hogwarts and that's what she seemed to be so hung up on, on how everyone else around them would react and honestly that made him nervous to even think about. He had never been known for treating Hermione or her friends kindly and it would seem odd if he made a 180 and not only become friends with her but actually started dating her.

About 45 minutes later Hermione came back out into the living room, her hair fell in wet ringlets down past her shoulders and she wore those shapeless, baggy garments she called pajamas. The scent of jasmine hit his nose and shot straight to his groin when she walked by him on her way to the kitchen. He had to shift around in his seat so she wouldn't notice just how much she managed to affect him.

"Do you want any ice cream?" Hermione asked from the kitchen.

"Uh yeah sure. Do you need any help?"

"No that's okay I got it." She said back.

A minute or two later she came back in holding two bowls of ice cream. She handed him his and he couldn't help but notice she added something different to her.

"Why is yours different?" he asked.

Hermione looked down at her own bowl and shrugged as she walked over and sat down in the chair on the opposite side of the room. "I don't know what you're talking about." She said coyly.

He tried to get a closer look, but he couldn't see that well from where he was sitting, but he did notice little green pieces throughout her vanilla ice cream. "What did you put in there?" he asked her suspiciously.

"It doesn't matter what I put in there. Why are you watching the Home Shopping Network?"

"Don't try to change the subject. Please tell you didn't put what I think you put in there?"

She glared at him teasingly. "Stop fusing about mine and eat your own damn ice cream."

"Bloody hell Hermione. Why would you put pickles in there? Do you have any idea how disgusting that is?" Shaking his head. "Pickles and ice cream, that's just…unnatural."

Ignoring him she took a bite of her pickled ice cream. Draco made a face and visibly shuttered.

She took another bite. "Just be thankful I didn't add any to your bowl."

"Yeah, thank Merlin." He muttered.

They sat in silence as they watched two elderly women selling creepy looking baby dolls on what Hermione called the Home Shopping Network. He kept glancing at Hermione, wincing every time she took a bite, clearly ignoring him.

"Will you stop watching me. I'm trying to eat and you making me self-conscious."

He chuckled.

Once Hermione finished eating, she got up and collected the empty bowls and loaded them into the muggle machine that washed dishes. Coming back into the living room she yawned and told him she was going to bed. Before she walked down the hallway towards the bedroom she turned around.

"Are you sleeping out here tonight or in the bed?" she asked shyly.

Draco looked her in the eye without getting off of the sofa. "If I sleep in that bed with you. I won't be able to keep my hands off you." He told her honestly.

Hermione's chocolate brown eyes grew wide and a pink blush bloomed across her cheeks. "Oh." She said sounding speechless. "Um." She bit her bottom lip nervously.

"Which is why I'll sleep out here tonight." He told her letting her off the hook.

She let out a nervous breath, or maybe it was one of relief. "Okay goodnight." She said quickly then turned and practically ran down the hallway away from him.

Draco sighed so much for keeping it friendly between them. "Night." He muttered to the now empty room.

Draco woke up, his back aching from the horribly lumpy sofa that was too short for him to fully stretch out on. He got up and stretched out his aching muscles and crackling joints. He was about to go to the kitchen and get the coffee started when he heard giggling coming from the hallway.

He walked towards the noise and realized it was coming from the nursery. He slowly opened the door and peaked inside. Crissy was awake playing with her dragon. She saw him and squealed.

"Dada."

He walked over to her crib. "Good morning Princess."

She stood up, holding on to the bars for support and stretched out her arms ready to be picked up. He picked her up and took her over to the changing table and put her in a fresh diaper. Then went to the closet and picked out an outfit for her to wear and dressed her in it.

He was about to leave the room when his eyes fell on the little white muggle intercom device Hermione called a baby monitor. The temptation was too hard to resist, carrying Crissy on his hip he walked over to it and started speaking directly into it.

"Hermione?" A voice called to her, waking her up from her sleepy state.

"Hmmm?" she murmured too tired to form any actual words or to open her eyes.

"Hermione? Wake up." The voice called out again, slowly coaxing her out of sleep.

"Mmmm." She moaned and rolled over and clutched a pillow at her side using it as a body pillow.

"Wake up. I know your still in bed." The sing-song like voice called out.

"Ugh, go away." She murmured into her pillow.

"Wakey, wakey sleepy head."

Hermione moaned again the voice sounded far away as if she were dreaming or something.

"Hermione?" the voice was louder this time.

Hermione's eyes popped open. "Huh? Draco?" she sat up and looked around the darken room.

The sun wasn't even up. She didn't see him anywhere, but she could have sworn she heard his voice. Maybe she was dreaming.

"Hermione wake up. Crissy tell mummy to wake up." Hermione heard Draco say and realized his voice was coming from the baby monitor.

"Wake. Wake." She heard Crissy squeal then giggled.

Hermione fell back against her pillow and let out a sigh, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She rolled her head to the side to look at the clock on her bedside table than groaned. Pushing the covers off her she sat up and got out of bed and walked over to the door. Opening it she almost ran smack into Draco's chest.

"Oh good your awake." He said smirking down at her.

"Do you have any idea what bloody time it is?" she glared at him.

"Uh no."

"Its five o'clock in the morning."

"Oh whoops." He said looking not in the least bit apologetic. "Nice hair." He reached up as if to push away a stray curl, but she swatted his hand away. "Someone's cranky this morning." He chuckled.

"Humph." She muttered as she pushed past him. "I am when it's only five o'clock in the morning and I could still be sleeping." She grumbled walking into the kitchen; she stopped short when she saw Crissy.

"What did you put her in?" she asked Draco as he started making coffee for himself.

"What are you talking about?" he asked back.

"What is she wearing?" Hermione asked looking at Crissy.

Draco turned his head and looked at their daughter, then back at Hermione. "Uh…clothes."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "She's wearing a party dress."

"Um…so? She looks cute in it." He said clearly not seeing the point.

"Yeah but she can't play or crawl around in it. It isn't practical."

"It's just a dress Hermione it's not a big deal."

"Yeah well it's not something you can just throw in the wash and expect it to get clean."

"Then put her in something different I don't care."

Hermione huffed out a sigh. "I'll do it later. I'm too exhausted to do anything right now." She walked over to the dining table and sat down handing Crissy a fresh bottle of milk.

She could feel a headache coming on. Draco walked over to the table and sat a bowl of cereal down in front of her.

"Eat something you're looking a bit pale." He told her and then sat down on the other side of Crissy, feeding her bites of applesauce in between his own bites of his breakfast.

She picked up her spoon and took a hesitant bite. Her stomach wasn't feeling too great. She was getting so sick of this morning sickness thing. She thought that maybe it was finally passing since she hadn't gotten sick at all yesterday, which was a first. But now not so much.

"Do you have any plans for today?" Draco asked her in between bites.

"No not really. I think it's supposed to rain today so I don't know." She told him.

Finishing his breakfast he got up and put his dirty dishes in the sink. "I'm going to go take a shower." He told her and left the kitchen.

Hermione cleaned Crissy then took her to the nursery and changed her out of her party dress. What was Draco thinking? She thought. Sometimes boys' don't know anything. Once she changed her into something more appropriate, she took Crissy back into the living room and sat her on the floor in front of her pile of toys. Hermione flipped the telly on and turned to a supposedly educational children's cartoon that Crissy absolutely adored.

Hermione sat down on the sofa. Draco's pillow was still placed along the armrest while a pile of bunched up blankets were kicked to the opposite end. She could still hear the water running from the bedroom so she felt it was okay to lean over and take a small whiff. The pillow smelled like him and his spicy smelling soap he used. Ugh she was being ridiculous, who goes around sniffing pillows? Apparently she does.

She straightens back up and yawned. She was still extremely tired, she felt like she could use at least two more hours of sleep. She tried to concentrate on the telly but her eyelids kept drifting shut like they were made of cement. It wouldn't hurt to take a tiny nap, just until Draco left for practice. She lay down on the sofa; laying her head on his pillow and she quickly fell asleep.

Draco walked into the living room and saw Hermione curled up on the sofa sound asleep. Her face was buried in the pillow he used last night and her hair was spilled all around it. She looked like a small child with her legs curled up to her stomach. He picked up the blanket at the end of the sofa and draped it over her body.

He then sat down on the chair, he had about an hour or so before he needed to be at practice. He tried paying attention to the children's program Crissy was watching with enthusiasm it feature fully grown men dancing around in brightly colored costumes made of foam or some such material. But his eyes kept straying back to Hermione, just watching her sleep. She looked so peaceful and content even if she was sleeping on the lumpy sofa. And he couldn't seem to take his eyes off her.

Once it was time for him to leave she still hadn't woken up, so he went into the bedroom so he wouldn't disturb her and called upon Ziggy.

She arrived with a pop. "Mr. Malfoy you called Ziggy?" the little house elf said.

"Yes Ziggy I need to go to practice and Hermione is resting right now. Could you please watch over Crissy until Hermione wakes up? Just make sure she doesn't get into anything she shouldn't and keep her entertained and whatnot."

"Of course Mr. Malfoy, Ziggy loves Crissy very much, no harm will come to Crissy when Crissy is in Ziggy's care."

"Thank you Ziggy you are the best."

Draco walked back into the living room and kissed Crissy goodbye and told her to be good for Ziggy. And snuck one more glance at Hermione who was still asleep before he left for the day.

Hermione blinked her eyes open then rolled onto her back and stretched out her legs. Opening her eyes to the living room she had a brief moment of panic, where was she? Why was she on the sofa? Then she remembered she shut her eyes for a bit until Draco finished his shower. Except she could tell that his presence was missing in the house.

She sat up and looked at the clock on the wall. Dear Merlin, she's been asleep for four hours. It only felt as if it had been a few minutes. She looked around the room for Crissy. Oh no, where was she?

"Crissy?" she called out.

What kind of mother was she? Who falls asleep when they're supposed to be watching over a child? Anything could have happened.

"Crissy?"

She heard giggling coming from the nursery. She went over and opened the door and practically sagged with relief.

"Oh thank god. Ziggy you're here."

"Morning Mrs. Malfoy. Mr. Malfoy sent for Ziggy so you could sleep in peace."

"Did he now? Well that was very considerate of him. Thank you very much for watching Crissy. Could you stay a bit longer so I can take a shower and get ready for the day?"

"Of course Mrs. Malfoy anything for baby Crissy."

Hermione decided to make another run to the grocery store that day unfortunately it was pouring down rain so she wanted to make this trip as quickly as possible.

It was pouring down rain and he was soaked to the bone. Draco's dripping wet quidditch practice robes kept weighing him down, making it impossible for him to go his top speed on his broom. Thunder and lightning lit up the sky. All of his teammates looked tired and wet. The rain had slowed practice down tremendously making them run two hours overtime.

He still had that meeting with his manager, which was supposed to take place more than an hour ago. He looked down at the side lines on the quidditch pitch and he couldn't see his manager Robbie anywhere. The note said he would meet him on the pitch around four o'clock. And it was now about 5:30pm. And still no sign of him.

Their coach blew his whistle and everyone slowly started descending to the ground. Hopefully he is calling practice to a close. Once Draco's feet touched the ground he dismounted his broom and awaited further instruction.

"Whoa. Now's she's a beauty." His teammate Roger said next to him. "You're a lucky man to have her as your new manager. Man if only I wasn't married." Roger said slapping Draco on the back.

Draco turned his head and saw who he was talking about. A beautiful tall well fit woman stood at the sidelines standing under an umbrella to keep her from getting wet. She had long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes. She wore a silky blouse and a skin tight skirt that hugged her hips all the way down to her knees. Paired with impossibly tall black pencil thin heels. Who wore heels to a quidditch pitch? Roger was right she was a beauty, someone he would be very attracted too if he didn't have two girls waiting for him at home.

"What are you talking about? My new manager?" Draco asked Roger who was still staring at the girl.

"Didn't Robbie tell you? He's retiring soon and that there is his daughter Gwen. She's going to be taking his place. She's only 22 years old and has already coached the girl's quidditch team over at Beauxbatons Academy of Magic for the past four years." Roger told him. "She may look like a delicate flower but she knows her stuff when it comes to quidditch."

"Impressive." Draco said.

Just then Gwen caught his eye and started waving madly towards him. "Mr. Malfoy." She called out to him.

"That's your cue. See you later mate." Roger said slapping him on the back again.

Gwen slowly made her way over to him in her spiky heels through the muddy grass. He decided to take pity on her and meet her half way.

Once she reached him she stretched out her hand. "Mr. Malfoy. It's so nice to finally meet you. I'm Gwendolyn Masters, but you can call me Gwen. I don't know if you've heard but I'm Robbie's daughter and I'll be taking his place once he retires next month."

Draco shook her hand. "Uh yeah nice to meet you too."

"Did you receive our note we sent last night? I know it was last minute but the information we have is quite exciting and important."

"Yeah I received your letter; sorry our practice ran a bit over. And we'll I was expecting Robbie to be here so I've been looking for him, not you. If I'd had known I would have been down sooner."

"Oh no it's quite alright. My father's was held up as well and couldn't make it to the agreed upon time. This is why I'm here instead to ask if you will accompany me to dinner."

"Uh dinner?"

"Yes so we can have that meeting, somewhere dry to get out of this rain. My father will be joining us shortly at the restaurant we already made a reservation so everything is already taken care of."

"Um yeah okay. Except I'm afraid I'm not exactly prepared to go to dinner at the moment. I'll have to go home and change and let my wife know what going's on."

"Oh no problem, we have time for you to change and then we can head to the restaurant to meet my father. I'm ready whenever you are."

"Right. Okay, yeah let's go." She certainly was a persistent little thing, Draco thought.

Hermione rinsed her mouth out after losing just about everything she ate for lunch. This morning sickness was going to be the death of her. She needed to get back out to the kitchen to make sure she didn't burn dinner again. Draco was most likely due back any minute. And she sure hoped he was hungry, because she made enough food to feed a small army.

She walked out of the bathroom holding a hand up to her mouth, then stopped abruptly. Someone was in the living room holding her daughter.

"Who are you?" Hermione said reaching for her wand.

The stranger turned around. "Oh hello you must be Hermione. I'm Gwen Master's, Draco's new manager."

"You're his manager?" Hermione asked looking her up and down.

The woman was like a supermodel in heels. Tall and blonde, very blonde. Her appearance made Hermione seem extremely frumpy. Once her and Crissy returned from bed shopping they were drenched and Hermione changed into yoga pants and a white baggy t-shirt that she suspected was one of Draco's because it hung to her knees and was extremely soft, which is why she choose to wear it.

"Yes I'm his new manager or I will be once my father retires."

"I see. Well if you're looking for Draco I'm afraid he's not…"

"Oh no he's here. I believe he's taking a shower right now. We arrived together." Gwen explained.

But she didn't explain why she was standing in her living room at the moment.

Gwen looked down at Hermione. "Are you feeling alright you look a bit pale and um you have a bit…um" she pointed to Hermione's shirt.

Hermione looked down at herself and blushed; a brownish orange splotch stained her shirt. "Oh its mashed pumpkin squash. I swear it's not what you think it is. Crissy's not fond of squash."

"Okay whatever you say." Gwen said.

"Oh there you are. Have you met Gwen?" Draco said walking into the living room.

He wore black trousers and a button down shirt with no tie, similar to what he wore that night they met Pansy and Blaise for dinner.

"Are you going somewhere?" Hermione asked him.

"Yeah we have a dinner meeting." Draco told her.

"Oh I thought that the meeting was earli…"

"Practice ran late so the meeting got pushed back. We're meeting Robbie for dinner in about 20 minutes."

"Oh so you won't be eating dinner here then?" she said trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

Draco's face softened a bit. "No sorry. It was a bit last minute and Gwen said it's rather important that we have this meeting as soon as possible."

"It's okay. It just means more food for me then."

"Is it even edible?" he teased her.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "I burnt dinner that one time. It doesn't mean everything I make will end up the same way." She told him.

"Hmmm sure." He smirked at her then looked down at her shirt. "You have a little bit of…"

"It's mashed pumpkin squash okay. It's not vomit like you think." She snapped a bit more forcefully then she meant to and crossed her arms tightly around her chest coving up the stain.

Draco held up his hands and chuckled. "I wasn't thinking that."

Gwen cleared her throat behind them. "Sorry to interrupt but we really should get going." She told Draco.

"Right." He took Crissy out of Gwen's arms, kissed her goodbye then handed her off to Hermione. "Don't wait up." He told her then walked over to Gwen's side and offered his arm to her.

Gwen wrapped her fingers around his arm. They made the picture perfect looking couple, tall, blonde and blue eyed perfection. It made Hermione's insides twist. With a pop they were gone. Great now not only was she feeling and acting like a crazy, neurotic, clingy girlfriend she could now add jealous to the list as well.


	10. Chapter 10: Bats or Cannons

Chapter 10: Bats or Cannons

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

Draco and Gwen arrive with a pop to a tiny Thai restaurant. The place was practically deserted except for the wait staff. The restaurant was dressed in an array of bright and bold colors with exotic fabrics and upholstery. It was dimly lit with candles and lanterns that hung from the ceiling, giving off a soft warm glow making the place seem romantic and intimate.

Gwen let go of Draco's arm and walked up to the small hostess stand in the front. An elderly Asian woman greeted her.

"Ms. Master so nice to see you again. Your father sent this letter for you." Gwen accepted the letter and read it.

A slight frown formed on her face as she read. Draco waited patiently as she read, and then she turned to him.

"Well its looks like daddy had to cancel on us. So it's just going to be you and me then." Gwen smiled sweetly at him.

She really was quite beautiful especially in the glow of candlelight. "Does that mean we're not going to have that meeting?" He asked.

"Oh no we can still talk about that. I don't have all the details and paperwork, but I can still inform you what's going on."

"Okay sounds good."

"Perfect." Gwen said, and then held out her hand to him. "Shall we?"

Hesitantly he took her hand. Her hand was tiny, smaller than Hermione's. Her skin wasn't as soft as Hermione's. Gwen had calluses on her hands, probably from playing quidditch.

"Your table is right this way Ms. Master's, Mr. Malfoy." The small Asian woman told them as she escorted them into the dining area.

She seated them at a small table for two in the center of the room. Once they sat down Draco looked around the restaurant that was devoid of all customers.

"Where is everyone?" He asked Gwen.

"Oh daddy has connections and he shut the restaurant down just for us so we can have our privacy."

"So what was it that you needed to discuss with me?"

Gwen waved a hand in the air. "Let's talk about that after we eat. I'm starving."

Hermione paced around the living room, she felt restless. After trying to read some of the parenting books, she had to give up, because her mind kept drifting off to Draco and Gwen, and tried not to imagine what they were doing together. So she stopped studying; she was just too distracted.

The telly held no interest. Crissy was already in bed and she already cleaned up dinner, which was awful. Not that it was inedible or anything, it was just very bland and nothing she added to it, made it taste any better and she just end up pitching most of it. And eating by herself was kind of depressing.

It was already ten o'clock at night, surely their 'meeting,' if that's even what you would call it, wouldn't last much longer. She had a doctor's appointment tomorrow and kind of hoped that Draco would be able to go with her. She knew from reading that the doctor's appointment was harmless; they were just going to make sure she was healthy and normal and that the baby was healthy and developing normally. She'll be able to hear the baby's heartbeat and maybe find out the baby's sex. But she still wanted him there with her, not necessarily to hold her hand, but just to be there.

She already asked Ziggy earlier today if she could watch over Crissy tomorrow during the appointment. Draco had practice tomorrow as well, but if she wasn't mistaken it would be a half day of practice. And her appointment was in the afternoon. This is why she wanted him to go with her, because he would most likely be available.

Hermione walked over to the bookshelf to pick out a non-baby related book to read, but nothing stood out to her because she had already read most of what was on there. Her eyes fell on a couple of scrapbooks on the bottom shelf. She knew one of them must have been their wedding album because she remembered Draco talking about it. She picked one randomly and took it over to the sofa and sat and began to look through it.

Draco felt like he was about to burst at the seams, he ate so much. He had a new appreciation for Thai food, he especially liked that one spicy dish with the shrimp and noodles that he couldn't pronounce, and he could eat that all day long.

He and Gwen hadn't discussed whatever she needed to talk about with him, but they talked about pretty much everything else. He found out that she attended the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic and she was two years younger than him. And that her family is pureblood and she's an only child like him. She played quidditch while she was in school as a beater, and then coached the girl's team for a couple of years after she graduated.

His teammate Roger was right, she had the feminine exterior, but she knew her quidditch. She talked about how her mother died when she was young, so her father pretty much raised her and that's what got her interested in the sport so much.

They talked about when Hogwarts hosted the Triwizarding Tournament. She apparently went to the Yule ball with some bloke from Ravenclaw. He couldn't for the life of him remember her whatsoever back then, but she remembered him.

"You passed me in the hallway one day on the way to classes and you smiled at me. I have to admit I had a little crush on you back then and that little move totally made my week." Gwen told him a small blush graced her cheeks.

It wasn't as noticeable on her as it was when Hermione blushed. Gwen had darker skin from being out in the sun so often, but it was still a blush.

"Oh," he chuckled, what the hell was he supposed to say to that?

"Anyway you probably don't even remember it since I was only a 2nd year at the time. And it was a long time ago."

He couldn't help but comparing Gwen to Hermione. Gwen had tan skin and Hermione had creamy pale skin with cute little freckles across her nose. Gwen had piercing blue eyes and Hermione had chocolate brown ones. Gwen had straight blonde hair and Hermione had curly brown hair that was soft and smelled good. Gwen was taller than Hermione and was rail thin where Hermione was curvier in all the right places. Gwen was a girly girl and Hermione was more of a tomboy. Gwen loved quidditch and flying whereas Hermione wasn't so enthusiastic about either. And finally Gwen was a pureblood and Hermione wasn't.

His parents would probably love Gwen based on her style and blood status alone, he thought guilty. Whereas Hermione was the opposite. What his father did to her was proof enough. Yet he could have had the pick of any girl out there, pureblood or not and he still choose Hermione. That had to count for something.

Draco glanced over at a clock hanging on the wall. He was shocked by how much time had passed and they had yet to have that meeting.

"So uh what did you need to talk to me about?" He asked Gwen trying to get back to the real reason they were there.

"Oh how silly of me, I completely forgot. Okay so I have some rather exciting news. The Chudley Cannons want you to be their new seeker. Their seeker Gavin Gudgeon is retiring in the next month or so and they need someone to take his place and they want you." Gwen told him smiling.

Draco was speechless, he couldn't believe that they Chudley Cannons wanted him out of anyone; it was too great to even comprehend.

"They want you for a five year contact and they're willing to triple you annual salary then what they Ballycastle Bats are paying you."

"Wow that's amazing." He still couldn't wrap his head around it, this almost sounded too good to be true.

"The only thing is someone let it slip to your coach at Ballycastle, that you might switch teams so he offered to match what Chudley is offering you and continue you contract with them for an additional ten years. So now all you have to do is decide which one you would rather play for. Playing for the Chudley Cannons would be an opportunity of a lifetime, but if you stay with Ballycastle then you won't have to move."

"Move? Why would I need to move?" he asked.

"Well you wouldn't need to move your family necessarily, but you would want to consider getting a flat or a small apartment close the to Chudley quidditch pitch, because their practice schedule is a lot more grueling then Ballycastle's, you'll be practicing at least six days a week full days and apparating all the way over to Chudley from London twice a day with a full day of practice could really put a toll on someone. So what I'm trying to say is you'll need to get a small flat there so you can stay during the week. And then on the weekends you'll be allowed to go home to your family…uh that is if you don't have a game scheduled."

"Wait, wait, so you're saying my family and I can't move to Chudley together. I would have to be separated from them?"

"You won't be separated from them; you'll still be able to see them on…"

"…the weekends. Yeah so you said."

"The thing is the Chudley Cannons will pay for your living arrangements if you play for them, but their only willing to pay for a one bedroom flat that will accommodate you and you only. Hermione's a stay at home mother right? So it's not like there won't be anyone there watching over your kid."

"Kids."

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'kids,' we're expecting our second child in April."

"Oh," Gwen frowned. "Well then she'll be too busy caring for the new baby, that she won't have much time for you anyway. Which will be good for you and you will be able to focus more on your game."

All good feelings about Gwen were slowly beginning to disappear. "Yeah she'll be there caring for our new baby, a baby that I want to be there for as well and take care of. I can't let Hermione do all the work. Crissy isn't even a year old yet, she won't be able to take care of herself by then. It's too much work for Hermione to take on by herself. And it wouldn't be fair to her or the children."

"Then you should look into hiring a nanny. I'm sure I could find a decent one for you in the short time we have. This is why most professional quidditch players don't start families until after they retire because it's just too much of a hassle."

"I appreciate the offer, but I want to be there to watch children grow up, and tuck them into bed at night. Speaking of which it's already way passed my daughters bedtime. So if the Cannons want me to play for them then they'll have to let my family join me in Chudley. Otherwise I'm going to stay with the Bats." He told her trying to keep his temper at bay.

"I understand your concerns Draco, but you have to understand. Playing for the Chudley Cannons is a huge opportunity you can't even imagine what that would do for your career. Right now the Cannons are ranked in the top five in Britain, whereas the Bats are only ranked in the top twenty. Just think about it. You don't have to make a decision tonight." Gwen said getting up from the table.

Draco stood up as well reaching for his wallet to pay for dinner, but Gwen stopped him.

"Don't worry about it daddy already took care of it. Just think about what we talked about and I'll see you tomorrow at practice." And with that Gwen left the restaurant.

When Draco got home it was nearly midnight. He didn't realize how long dinner lasted, they only discussed his career about thirty minutes, and the rest was just small talk and a complete waste of his time. The house was quiet; the kitchen light was left on as well as a lamp in the living room.

He walked down the hallway he stopped at the nursery and quietly opened the door. The sound of even breathing came to his ears; he quietly walked up to Crissy's crib and peered over the edge at his sleeping baby girl.

He ran a hand lightly over her soft blonde curls. "I wouldn't give you up for the world." He whispered.

He couldn't imagine not being able to see his little girl everyday just for the sake of his career. Yes, it would be a huge opportunity like Gwen said, but it was one he seriously needed to think about. He should talk to Hermione and see what she thinks about it. Taking one last look at his daughter he left the nursery.

"Sleep tight Princess." He said quietly shutting the door behind him.

He noticed a light coming through the bottom crack beneath the door to the bedroom. He wondered if Hermione was still awake, walking up to the door he was about to open it, before remembering her little rule about knocking before entering the bedroom in case she was undressed or in some other compromising position she didn't want him seeing. Smiling to himself he knocked lightly on the door so not to wake up Crissy who was next door.

No one answered so he opened the door and walked in. the bedside table lamp was still on. And there was Hermione sound asleep on the bed. She lay on the bed still wearing those frumpy pajamas she always wore. It looked like she fell asleep reading. She had a huge book that lay open face down across her middle. He walked a little closer to get a look at what she was reading before she fell asleep.

He couldn't see any title on it or anything. By her even breathing he could tell she was sound asleep. He lightly as possible lifted the book off her chest so not to wake her to set it on the table next to the bed, when he lifted it he noticed that it wasn't a book at all but one of the photo albums that was on the bookshelf in the living room. He flipped it over to see which album it was.

It just so happen to their wedding album. The paged was turned to them dancing at the reception. Some of the pictures were them kissing. He remembered the first day they got here and he found and looked through this very album and remembered being completely freaked out about being married to her. They've been here for almost an entire week not and they've come so far at accepting each other and well it wasn't perfect, but it is probably the happiest he felt in a long time.

He sat down at the end of the bed trying not to wake her and flipped through the pictures. Hermione looked beautiful in a vintage figure hugging strapless dress. Her hair was down and cascaded down her back in soft ringlet curls. She looked stunning.

Once he looked through the entire book he got up from where he sat on the bed regretfully and set the album on the bedside table, then as lightly as possible took the edge of the comforter, which was folded down at the end of the bed and laid it over Hermione's sleeping form. Taking one last look at her he turned off the bedside lamp then quietly left the bedroom to sleep once again on that horrible sofa.

_ Hermione was in a darken room, when she opened her eyes, her hands were bound above her head in shackles. Her body hurt all over and felt heavy and weak. She couldn't feel her legs or anything else. She looked down at herself and she noticed her huge pregnant belly sticking out. Where was she? What was going on? _

_ She felt dizzy and her head was pounding and she felt like she was going to be sick. She felt a warm trickle running down the side of her face and she didn't have to look to know it was blood. She tried moving but couldn't, her wrist were bound so tightly it was cutting off her circulation. She tried moving her legs and feet, but when she did that, a shooting pain shot up and down her legs. She had to bite her tongue to keep from crying out in pain. The pain was so intense she felt as if she might pass out from it._

_ She tried looking around the room she was in, but it was so dark she couldn't make out anything. As far as she could tell no one else was in the room except for her, the only sounds she could make out were the sound of her shallow breathing. Then off to the left she heard footsteps coming towards her. She shut her eyes pretending to be unconscious for fear her captor would torture her more if he knew she was awake._

"_Wakey, wakey mudblood. I know your awake I can hear it in your breathing."_

_She knew that voice, where had she heard that voice before? A sharp slap snapped her face hard across the face. "I said wake up you filthy creature." Her eyes shot open. Lucius Malfoy stood before her. He was thinner then she remembered, cheeks hallow eyes sunken in. His hair was a tangled mess and at least a weeks' worth of beard growth graced his jaw. He looked deranged given the wild, mad look in his eyes as he stared at her. _

"_Wh…what are…you do..doing? Why…am I here?" her voice cracked, she was terrified and she didn't understand what was happening._

"_I'm doing this because of that abomination in your womb. No son of mine will ever be associated with a mudblood ever again. He's not coming for you. He won't save you. Because he doesn't even know you're here." Lucius laughed at her._

"_No," she whispered, he was wrong, he had to be wrong. _

_"He doesn't love you, he doesn't care for you. You know why? Because you're a Filthy Mudblood…a filthy, dirty mudblood…a dirty…" Suddenly the image of Lucius changed and it was now Draco standing before her. "…Mudblood. A filthy mudblood." Draco sneered over and over again._

"_No, no…no, no…"_

"…mione!" someone was shaking her shoulder.

"No..."

"Hermione? Love wake up!"

"No…" her eyes snapped open.

She was breathing so hard she was afraid she might start hyperventilating. She looked around the dark room…no not the dark again…

"Hermione?" Draco turned the light on and sat down at the edge of the bed next to her.

She flinched away from him as a reflex. He looked worried, nervous even.

"Are you okay? You were having a bad dream."

She shook her head; tears welled up in her eyes. It was just a dream, it wasn't real. Then why was she shaking so badly? Draco reached out for her and took her in his arms holding on to her tightly. She broke down into a sobbing mess, it was just a dream. Draco rocked her lightly back and forth rubbing her back in soothing strokes.

"It's okay, it was just a dream." He whispered into her hair.

His arms felt strong and safe as he held on to her. She buried her face in his neck taking comfort in the woodsy smell of his cologne.

"It felt so real…it was so scary." She whispered.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She was about to shake her head no, but decided against it. "Lucius had me chained and shackled to a wall in a dark room." She said taking a shuttering breath, she felt Draco stiffen underneath her fingertips, but he didn't say anything so she continued. "It was pitch black and I couldn't see anything, I know he had been torturing me because I was in so much pain. And he was yelling awful, horrible things…I don't know if it was just a dream…or a memory of that one night." She left out the part when Lucius turned into Draco and that it was him calling and telling her horrible things.

She didn't want to think about him like that. Even if he was capable of doing something like that before, she didn't want to believe that he would do such a thing now. Not when he was holding her in his arms so tightly and securely.

"I'm sorry Hermione." Draco whispered stroking a hand over her hair. "He won't hurt you anymore. He can't hurt you, I won't let him." he said tightening his hold on her.

She nodded into his chest, not knowing what else to say, and not wanting him to let go. And he didn't, he continued to hold her tight and rubbing her back as she slowly started to calm down and stop shaking. Once she got herself more under control, she slowly began to pull away. Wiping her eyes she noticed she left a tall tale wet spot on the collar of his shirt.

"Sorry I cried all over you." She said shyly.

"Don't worry about it. I didn't mind." He told her smiling slightly, and then turned serious again. "Are you going to be okay?"

She nodded reaching over to grab a tissue off the nightstand. "Thanks for…well dealing with me. I didn't mean to wake you up."

He shrugged. "I was already awake so it was no burden." He said standing up.

She didn't want him to leave. "Wait!" she said feeling panicky. "Um can you sleep in here tonight?" she asked him, then immediately felt like an idiot, she probably sounded like a little child afraid of the dark.

Instead of making fun of her or calling her out on it, he reached forward with his hand and tucked a stray curl behind her ear.

With an intense caring look in his eyes he asked. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Staring at her as if to see if she was being serious or not, he finally nodded. "Okay." Then walked around to the other side of the bed and got in under the covers.

Once he was settled in Hermione reached over to turn off the light on the nightstand. The room was once again pitch black, but she wasn't as afraid as she was before, because she knew she wasn't alone. Double checking to make sure her wand was still safely tucked under her pillow she settled under the covers, feeling a bit nervous. It had only been two days since she slept in the same bed as him, but it felt as if it had been much longer than that.

Draco grabbed her hand then pulled her over to his side. Putting an arm behind her head and hand on her back, he pulled her closer to him until she snuggled into his side. She laid her head on his shoulder, because she wasn't quite sure where else to lay it and she wasn't sure what and where to put her hand. She had never intentionally cuddled with anyone before. And waking up in someone's arms completely relaxed after being sound asleep didn't count. She felt tense and apparently he was catching on to that. He grabbed her hand closest to him and laid it on his chest. His other hand began rubbing her back in a comforting manner.

"Just shut your eyes and relax, try to go back to sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." He whispered in the dark.

She shut her eyes and listened to the sound of his heartbeat, the steady beat eventually had her drifting off to sleep.

Draco was lying awake on the sofa, staring at the ceiling when he heard her crying. At first he thought it was Crissy, but when he checked the nursery she was still sound asleep. That's when he realized the sound was coming from the bedroom. He walked in without knocking. Hermione was still in bed, but she was tossing and turning a pained look across her face, yet she was still asleep.

He went to her and tried to wake her up, but it took a minute or two for her to snap out of it. She looked terrified when she saw him, that she actually recoiled in horror away from him, when he tried to reach out to her. He could tell that she was trembling and on the verge of tears. It must have been one hell of a bad dream.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She shook her head no, and then started crying. He sat down on the bed next to her and pulled her in his arms, whether she wanted to be held by him or not. As soon as her arms went around her she started sobbing. Soaking his shirt clear through.

When she told him what her dream was about he froze, it was almost identical to what he witnessed in the pensive. So maybe she was right and it was a memory of that night, even though she wasn't physically there when it happened, but her body was.

She eventually settled down and pulled away from him. He was about to leave when she stopped him.

"Um can you sleep in here tonight?" she asked him quietly like she was he'd say no.

He walked over to the other side of the bed and got in under the covers. Hermione turned the bedside light out and then settled in, except she was on the far side of the bed, incredibly far away from him as if she was still afraid.

Without asking or warning her he grabbed her hand and pulled her over towards him. She didn't exactly protest when he tugged her over until she was flush up against his side. He could tell that she was still unsure and afraid by now tense she was against him. He rubbed her back trying to get her relax just a bit.

After a few minutes her body finally relaxed against his as she fell asleep. He kissed her lightly on the forehead without thinking and ran a hand over her hair. She snuggled up to him, wrapping one of her legs over his and nuzzled into his neck, letting out a sigh of content as if it was the most natural thing and that they've been sleeping like that for years. Smiling to himself he to eventually fell asleep.

Draco woke up to the sound of Hermione getting sick in the bathroom. He got out of bed to go check on her. When he got to the bathroom she was at the sink brushing her teeth.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Uhmmm," she said with a mouth full of toothpaste, then spat it out and rinsed her mouth.

"Is it normal for you to get sick like that all the time?" he asked picking up his toothbrush to brush his teeth.

Hermione shrugged. "The book says everyone is different and everyone experiences morning sickness in a different way. Some women barely have it at all, others have it once or twice a day, and then for some it could be anytime all the time, especially when you least expect it." She told him. "You have a half day of practice today right?" She asked him.

He spat out his toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. "Yeah." He said then began to lather on shaving cream over his jaw and chin.

"Well I have a doctor's appointment today at two and I was wondering if you could…"

"Watch Crissy? Yeah I can do that." He told her.

"Well actually, um I already asked Ziggy if she could watch Crissy. Actually I was wondering if you could maybe go with me to the appointment?" she asked him as she watched him shave his jaw. "You can say no if you don't want to go. But I just thought maybe you would want to go because they'll show us the baby through the ultrasound and we can listen to the heartbeat and everything and maybe find out if it's a boy or a girl. They're not going to stick me with any needles or anything gruesome like that…or at least I don't think so. Anyway if you don't want to go it's totally fine, I can go by myself."

He looked over at her in the reflection of the mirror. "Of course I'll go with you. I wouldn't miss it." He told her.

Hermione let out a big breath. "Oh thank god. Okay good. I mean it's not like I need you there to hold my hand or anything, but I really just didn't want to go by myself."

Draco chuckled. "Don't worry I'll be there. Two o'clock you said?"

She nodded. "Yep two o'clock. I figured we could just apparate there, since it's at St. Mungo's."

"Okay sounds good."

"Okay good. I'm going to go get Crissy out of bed." She told him as she walked passed him out the bathroom door.

Hermione got Crissy settled into her highchair, and set out a bottle of milk and some dry cereal on her tray to nibble on while she cooked up some bacon and scrambled eggs on the stove. She was starving and she wanted something different and fulfilling other than a bowl of cereal and juice. Draco was still in the shower so she went ahead and set the coffeemaker up to make a fresh pot for him when he came out. She made sure to add enough eggs and bacon for two people.

Draco walked in a short time after. "Mmm smells good." He told her, stealing a piece bacon that was cooling next to her.

It better smell good, she just finished cooking an entire package of bacon…she was eating for two after all. Once the eggs were done she took both plates over to the kitchen table where Draco sat reading the Daily Prophet and Crissy who was chewing on soggy cereal. Draco spooned out a healthy plateful of eggs and a couple strips of bacon, and Hermione did the same.

"Mmm, wow you should definitely make this every morning."

"Yeah well it definitely beats eating cereal every day." She said breaking up the bacon into small pieces and feeding them to Crissy

"About last night. I just want to say I'm sorry for acting so childish…"

"Hermione I told you last night don't worry about it."

It was almost 1:30 in the afternoon and Draco still hadn't shown up yet. If she wasn't mistaken his practice should have been over around 12:30pm. But her appointment was still 30 minutes away and maybe his practice was running late again. She'd just wait patiently until he showed up.

As soon as practice was over Gwen and her father Robbie rushed over to Draco and practically shoved him towards the locker room and told him to change quickly and to meet them outside. He did what they told him to do, not entirely sure what was going on and why they seemed to be in such a hurry.

Once he met them outside, Robbie and Gwen quickly linked up to him and apparated out of sight taking Draco with them. When they landed he looked around and didn't know where they were.

"What is all of this? Where have you taken me?" he asked getting a bit heated.

"Draco, welcome to Chudley. We brought you here to try to convince you to play for the Cannons. We figured if you saw the pitch, met the team and coach, and then get a look at where you'd be living then maybe it will help make up your decision about where and who you want to play for."

It was 1:55pm. Draco still hadn't shown up. Hermione didn't know if she should be worried or pissed off. If he couldn't make it, the least he could do was call or send a note. Ziggy was already here playing with Crissy.

She looked at the clock it was now 1:56pm, her appointment was in four minutes. She was giving him 30 more seconds to show up; otherwise she was leaving without him. She watched the clock as the seconds ticked by. Damn it, he better have a good excuse for not showing up, she thought as she apparated out of the kitchen.

_AN: Please read and review I love to read your feedback._


	11. Chapter 11: Above the Clouds

Chapter Eleven: Above the Clouds

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling_

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><p>Hermione sat on the sofa blindly watching whatever was on the telly, with an uneaten bowl of popcorn in her lap. It was 8:00pm at night and absolutely no word from Draco.<p>

She was seething when he didn't show up for her appointment, but now she couldn't decide if she should stay mad at him or be worried that he hasn't come home yet.

If he didn't show up in the next 30 minutes then she was going to send an owl for him, asking him where the hell he was, and if she didn't get an immediate response then she was going to contact Blaise or Harry or someone and get them to track him down. Something horrible could have happened to him and she would have no way of knowing where he was. But her gut told her he wasn't hurt, or being held captive somewhere. Maybe he just forgot about the appointment…fine…but the least he could do was called or something.

Tears prickled in the corner of her eyes, she really wished he could have been there with her when she listened to her baby's heartbeat, so steady, fast and strong. She picked up the sonogram image that the doctor gave her to take home and keep and looked at it for what seemed like the millionth time. She had already memorized every curve and angle of her perfect tiny baby boy.

Seeing him on the ultrasound put everything in perspective. This was really happening; she really did have a baby growing inside of her. The doctor told her she was progressing nicely and that the morning sickness was normal. And like she told Draco earlier that day, every woman is different and some just experience it more so then others.

The only real instructions that the doctor told her was to eat more, since she apparently had been losing weight, but he assured her it is normal earlier on for weight to flux up and down, especially if they are prone to having morning sickness. He told her as long as she ate more protein, fruits and vegetables and increase her calorie intake and of course continues taking her prenatal vitamins then she will start to gain weight in no time.

A pop of someone apparating came from behind her in the kitchen. She stood up and practically ran to him. Before he was able to steady himself Hermione threw her arms around him.

"Thank heavens you're alright." She breathed a sigh of relief.

Before he could even react and put his arms around her to return the hug she let go then shoved him backwards. Anger replacing relief.

"Where the hell have you been? I've been worried sick." She yelled. "Do you not know how to pick up a phone and call someone?" She asked giving him another shove backwards. "Or send an owl telling me you weren't going to be here?" she started pounding at his chest, not violently but enough to get all of her frustration out. "The least you could have done is told someone else to send word to me that you weren't going to make it. It's not that difficult of a task!" she shoved him one last time until he was backed up to the countertop. "This is the third night now that you haven't been home to put Crissy to bed. She cries every night when you're not here. Do you know how heartbreaking that is to hear every night?" She started pounding at his chest again.

He stopped her by grabbing both of her wrists and held them out away from him. "I'm sorry. Your right, I should have sent word that I wouldn't get home until late tonight." Draco told her seriously.

She glared at him then wrenched her wrist free from his grasp. "You better have a damn good excuse for not being here today!" she said turning around and walking back to the sofa to retrieve her bowl of popcorn.

"I had last minute business to attend to, believe me it caught me completely off guard. If I knew of it ahead of time I definitely would have mentioned it." He told her following her into the living room.

"Did it have something to do with her?" she asked him.

"Her?" He asked.

"Quinn? Dwyn? Whatever her name is."

Okay now she was just being ridiculous and petty. But she did just spend the entire day being angry and worried and now stupidly jealous and relieved now that she knew he was alright. It was enough emotions all at once to make someone act ridiculous.

"You mean Gwen?" he said smirking slightly as she glared harder at him. "She was there yes."

"Well goody for you then." She said grabbing her bowl of uneaten popcorn. "Since you're here now I'm going to bed."

"It's barely 8:30pm." He told her smirking.

"I'm tired. It's been a long day. I hope you find the sofa comfortable tonight." She told him sarcastically and turned to leave.

"Wait Hermione I need to talk to you about something."

"I'm not really in the talking mood tonight Malfoy."

His smirk faded into a frown. "What are we back to last names now?"

"I'm going to bed." She said quietly and turned once again to leave.

"It's important."

"If it's important why don't you just ask Gwen? I'm sure she would love to attend to your every need."

He studied her, and then smirked. "You know jealously isn't a good look on you Granger."

"I'm not jealous." She told him and turned to leave once again.

"Please Hermione I need your opinion on something." He told her getting serious again.

"Can't it wait until morning?"

He stared at her frowning then nodded. "Fine whatever." He said sounding defeated.

She walked down the short hallway and into the bedroom, shutting the door quietly behind her. She leaned her back up against it and let out a disappointed sigh. She might have acted a bit harsh out there, but she couldn't change it now. She thought as she walked towards the bed and got in under the covers then sat the bowl of popcorn on her lap. What was she supposed to do now? She wasn't in the least bit tired; she lied to him about that. It was either pretend to be tired and go to bed early or start weeping like an idiot in front of him or go about punching at him again.

What the hell was her problem? He understood why she was upset about him not telling her where he was all night, but it wasn't something to be really mad about. Shaking his head he walked into the kitchen to get something to eat.

He sighed; this night…day was not turning out how he expected it to go. Something on the coffee table caught his eye. He bent over and picked it up.

It was a photograph of some sort. It was black and white and the picture wasn't very clear so it was hard to make out exactly what it was. He flipped it over. It was dated on the back. He flipped it back over to look at the picture once again. Maybe it was one of those hidden picture puzzles and that if you crossed your eyes the picture would show, but it wasn't one of those.

He had seen something like this before, but he couldn't remember where. He couldn't make out the shape…it kind of looked like that blob there was a head or something, and that there…was that a foot? And that…was that a hand? Wait a minute; he remembered where he had seen a picture like this before. He walked over to the bookshelf and pulled out Crissy's baby photo album and flipped it open.

There on the second page was a similar picture, next to it, was a caption that read 'Crissy sonogram 12 weeks'. He stared at the photo in his hands; he saw it now a tiny baby curled up on its side. He flipped it over and read the date again. It was dated today…shit…no! The appointment…he completely forgot. Taking the picture he walked into the bedroom.

Hermione sat in bed eating salty, buttery popcorn and reading a novel she found in her bedside table. When the bedroom door opened and in walked Draco.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" she asked as he climbed into bed next to her.

"I'm sleeping in here tonight, I can't stand spending one more night on that sofa, hope you don't mind." He said sweetly getting in under the covers.

She rolled her eyes at him and pretended to go back to her reading, ignoring him. A couple of seconds later he slid the sonogram picture in front of her.

"I'm sorry. You can't possibly know how much so. I know it was really important to you that I be there. And I wanted to be there, I really did. I was all ready to go after practice, when Gwen and Robbie whisked me away to Chudley without any warning. They barely left my side for more than two seconds and it just slipped my mind. I have no other excuse other than I'm an ass with a bad memory."

Hermione's lips tilted up slightly against her will. "I just wished you remembered enough to at least send word informing me where you were going to be. I spend all day worrying that you were lying in a ditch somewhere bleeding to death and being completely angry with you at the same time thinking you just didn't care about any of this."

"Of course I care. I wanted to be there. I wanted to see for myself the baby. Is she healthy? Growing normally? Did the appointment go as planned?"

Hermione smiled a bit bigger now, the anger she felt was slowly disappearing. "He is in fact healthy and developing normally."

"He? It's a boy!" He said excitedly grabbing the sonogram and studying it.

"Are you disappointed? I know you were pretty certain it was going to be a girl."

"What! No of course not, I've always wanted a son." He squinted at the picture. "How can you tell…that it's a boy?" he asked studying the picture and turning it sideways and tilting his head another way.

Hermione chuckled. "Um well how else do you distinguish a boy from a girl?" she asked.

He squinted harder trying to look for the distinguishing factor, she rolled her eyes and leaned over and pointed. "That there is the proof that he is in fact a boy."

Draco squinted even more. "It's not very big."

Hermione snorted very unlady like. "First off he still has a good six months ahead of him to grow and second does size even matter?"

"I don't know does it?" he teased her.

She rolled her eyes at him and tried to get the blush that was in her cheeks to simmer down.

He chuckled, and then turned serious again. "I truly am sorry for not being there and again for not remembering."

"It's okay there's always next time. And I'm sorry too for going all crazy on you back in the kitchen. I want to be able to blame it on my out of whack hormones, but I've always been known to have a bit of a temper."

"Oh I know all about that. I specifically remember that one day you punched me in third year, you almost broke my nose that day."

"Yeah well you have to admit you deserved it back then."

He chuckled in agreement.

"So what was it that you needed to talk to me about?"

"We don't have to talk about it tonight."

"But you said it was important."

"It has to do with my career as a quidditch player." He told her.

"Is it bad?" she asked getting a bit worried, since he was acting all serious.

"No, no nothing bad just different…the Chudley Cannons want me as their starting seeker."

"Wow that's great...uh right?" she asked when he frowned.

"Yeah it is they offered to triple my annual salary and sign me on for five years."

"But?"

"But, the Bats want to keep me on for an additional ten years and they will match what the Cannons are willing to pay me."

"Well they both seem like great offers, but I don't see why my opinion would matter, it's your career. Which team do you want to play for more?"

"That's the thing, if I play for the Cannons, which is a great opportunity I'll have to move there."

"Move to Chudley? That won't be too bad. I work from home so it wouldn't be any disposition to move, even though I am growing rather fond of this house. But we'll have to expand eventually. And…"

"They just want me to move…not you and Crissy."

"What? I don't understand. What do you mean just you?"

"The Cannons will only pay for my living arrangements. And I toured it today and it's not much, barely the size of a water closet. And the practices are more grueling and will take up more of my time. We can keep the house here for you and the kids. But they want me to stay in Chudley during the week and then I can come home here on the weekends."

"Oh…and is that something you're considering?" she asked him uncertain.

"No, I mean if it means being away from you and the kids weeks at a time then no I don't want to take their offer. Even though there pretty dead set on trying to convince me to play for them."

"And if you play for the Bats, you'll be able to stay here and keep your normal schedule?" she asked him.

"Yeah that's the plan."

"If you played for the Cannons, how soon would you be starting?"

"In the next month or so."

"That soon?" She asked surprised. "I mean I understand that being asked to play for the Cannons would be huge, but I'm just thinking about Crissy and what that will do to her if she couldn't see you every day."

"I've already talked to Gwen and Robbie and told them I won't accept the Cannons offer if I couldn't have you guys come down with me during the week."

"And what did they say about that?" She asked.

"They're still discussing it with the Cannons coach." She nodded. "Anyway I just wanted to let you know what was going on. But if the Cannons won't change their terms then I'm staying with the Bats."

Hermione set her book down in her lap while she stared off into the distance thinking, "How long do you think we'll be stuck here?" She asked Draco quietly.

"I don't know. You haven't heard anything from Candlewick yet have you?"

She shook her head. "What if she does contact us back, but she can't help us? What if we can't find a way to get back to Hogwarts…to get back to the year 2010? What if we're stuck here forever?" she asked getting worried.

"Then we'll deal with it. We'll just have to take it one day at a time. We don't know for sure that there isn't a way to get back. But until we find out what our options are we'll just have to stick it out…together." He grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

She nodded. "It just makes me wonder, since you're already contemplating making plans for months to come if it's even necessary, because we might not be here, but at the same time for all we know, we will still be here, maybe even longer than that. Maybe we should send another letter to Candlewick tomorrow. She's the only person I can think of that would have answers to all of this. "

"Sounds good to me."

"Do you have practice tomorrow?" she asked him trying to change the subject, if they kept talking about their situation she would fret over it all night and not get any sleep.

"Yeah we have a game on Thursday, so we have practice every day until then." He told her.

"Do you have another meeting with Gwen that I should know about?"

He gave her a look and smirked. "Not that I'm aware of, but I'll make sure you're the first to know if I do."

Hermione rolled her eyes at him and handed him the bowl of popcorn she had sitting in her lap and got out of bed to get to the bathroom and brush her teeth. When she came back out she found Draco lying in bed with his hands behind his head watching some late night TV show on the telly with the sound turned down low.

"You know I'm not all that jacked up on muggle inventions, especially when you can use magic instead. But this-" he gestured to the telly. "-is definitely genius and I wouldn't mind acquiring one for the Slytherins common room when we get back." He told her as she climbed back into bed next to him.

They laid there in compatible silence watching TV until they both drifted off to sleep.

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><p>The next day Hermione sent another letter to Candlewick, pleading for her help and waited impatiently for any response, but it was already three o'clock in the afternoon and still no word. So she went and looked endlessly through all of her old school books she found in the closet in the office, to try to find a spell or a potion about time travel. But she didn't have any luck.<p>

All that she found was information about going into the future, but nothing about going back in time or reversing a spell that takes you into the future. Time was a tricky and dangerous thing to mess with and that's why the professors never taught them anything about it.

She put the book that she had been studying down, she was frustrated and hot. The weather outside was absolutely sweltering; even the air conditioning and ice cold drinks couldn't keep the heat away. Crissy was hot and fussy and Hermione needed a break from getting absolutely nothing accomplished that day.

She remembered seeing a plastic blowup pool in the backyard. It was a hot sunny day, might as well make the best of it. She got Crissy all suited up in a purple bathing suit and lathered up in sunscreen from head to toe. Hermione put on a swimsuit herself. Unfortunately she didn't have any one piece that fit over her belly, so she had to put on a black tiny bikini. Luckily it was just going to be her and Crissy, so no one else would be around to see her and Draco wouldn't be home for another two hours.

In the last couple of days her belly had really started to stick out, whereas a week ago it was only a little bump that was almost unnoticeable. With Crissy all set in her arms, Hermione grabbed extra towels, sunscreen, toys and some ice water to drink and they went out back to play in the pool.

Draco apparated back to the house, thank Merlin the coach let out practice early today, since it was disgustingly hot outside. England was experiencing an unnatural heat wave this week. He went to the refrigerator to get something cold to drink.

He noticed that Hermione wasn't in the house, neither was Crissy. He looked out back and sure enough there they were. Crissy was playing in some sort of tub fill with water. He realized that it must have been a small baby pool. Hermione was lying out next to it on a towel reading a book.

She wasn't facing him so he couldn't see whether or not she was wearing a bathing suit. He started walking towards them and Crissy saw him and squealed a greeting to him. Hermione looked up from her book and immediately grabbed a towel to cover herself up. Yup, she was definitely wearing a bathing suit, a little black number that showed off her body and growing belly.

"You're home early." She said wrapping the towel around her body.

He couldn't tell if she was blushing or if it was just from the heat that had her face flushed and tinted pink. He would bet money on it that she was blushing. He couldn't help but smile knowing that he was the one making her all flustered and worked up.

"The coach let practice out early because of the heat." He smirked at her when she pulled the towel tight around her body. "You know you're wearing a bathing suit right?" he asked amused.

"So?" she glared at him.

"So, that means you don't need to cover up. Besides I've already seen you in your knickers, a bathing suit isn't that much different." He told her pulling his shirt off over his head.

Hermione's eyes widened and she blushed when he unzipped his pants and striped down to nothing but his boxers. "Wh…what are you doing?" she stared at him blushing.

"I'm getting in the pool. It's hot out here." He said stepping in to join Crissy in the baby pool.

"And you apparently don't have any time to put on any swim trunks?"

"Nope." He smirked.

"Just try not to traumatize our daughter to much."

"Care to join us?"

She laughed, looking at him taking up the majority of the pool. "If I get in there, there won't be any water left in the pool."

"Suit yourself. Crissy and I will enjoy the cool water all to ourselves." He said as he tried to stretch out in the pool, but his legs were too long.

"You know she probably peed in the water." The look on Draco's face was hysterical; it was a mix between horror and disgust. Hermione burst out laughing. "I'm kidding; she's wearing a special diaper that's waterproof."

He recovered quickly and chucked a toy ball that was in the pool at her. She was caught off guard and dropped the towel around her body in order to catch the ball.

Draco smiled at her as he looked her up and down. "Nice."

Hermione had a feeling he wasn't talking about her catching skills, but the fact that she dropped her towel instead. He now had an eye full of her bikini top that was about a cup size too small and her belly that was sticking out. She settled down on the towel that was lying out on the grass, ignoring his heated stare.

"I sent another letter to Candlewick today."

"Yeah, did she answer back?" he asked handing a pool toy to Crissy in the water.

"No, it's been over a week since we sent the first letter. I'm beginning to think maybe she's not around anymore or she doesn't care about what happens to us." She said picking at a blade of grass. "Maybe we should go to Hogwarts and talk to one of the professors there? Maybe McGonagall or Slughorn will know what to do. I've spent all day going through my old school book and didn't find a thing. Nobody ever taught us anything about time travel; going back in time or forward into the future. I really don't want to go to the Ministry about this. They'll probably think we've gone completely mad and then they might take Crissy away from us. What if…"

"Hermione. Relax. Just because Candlewick hasn't responded right away doesn't mean we need to start freaking out about it. If we don't hear anything in the next couple of days or so, then we should consider taking alternative actions."

Hermione took a deep breath, she didn't like it but he was right, nothing good would come out of this if they started freaking out about it. "Okay. Well if you keep an eye on Crissy. I'm going to go get dinner started." She said getting up from the ground.

"Uh, are you going to try to cook again?" He asked her.

She rolled her eyes and smirked at him. "No I'm going to order in pizza."

"Mmm ordering pizza sounds great."

Hermione shook her head and smiled. "Chicken." She taunted.

"Hey I'm not chicken. I just don't want to get food poisoning from something I eat."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh please I told you I only burnt dinner that one time and you weren't even around the second night I made dinner and that turned out fine."

"Oh really? So why did I find it all in the trash bin when I came home that night?"

She shrugged and turned around and walked back to the house, while he chuckled at her retreating form.

After dinner Hermione was in the bedroom folding laundry. This was probably the fourth load of clothes she had to wash in the last three days. Who knew children could be so messy. After she put away the clean clothes in the nursery, she went out into the living room to get Crissy ready for bed. But she wasn't there, and neither was Draco come to think of it. They weren't in the bedroom because she had just come from there. She started to walk towards the kitchen when something out the back window caught her eyes. It was Draco mounting a broom and Crissy was strapped to the front of his chest. What the bloody hell did he think he was doing? Hermione marched out to the backyard to stop him.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked him hands on her hips.

He shrugged. "I'm going up for a night ride." He told her calmly.

"Not with Crissy you're not! It's not safe."

"Of course it's safe. I've been flying since I was a tiny boy and that's what this harness thing is for, so she won't fall out."

"Well what if you fall off your broom?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "I'm not going to fall off the broom. I've been flying for a long time, so I know how to stay on. And besides these brooms have a special ward that surrounds them that helps keep the rider on the broom. The only way to fall off is if you're physically knocked off by an outside force or if you're an idiot and fall asleep or become unconscious while flying."

"Up, up, up" Crissy squealed clapping her hands in front of her.

"See. She wants to go up for a ride. And clearly we've done this before otherwise we wouldn't have this flying baby harness."

Hermione let out a frustrated sigh. "I still don't like it." She said eyeing the slender stick of wood with doubt.

"Well maybe if you came with us, you'll see how safe it really is." He told her holding out his hand for her to take.

Hermione took a step back. "What? Are you mad? I can't go up with you, that broom couldn't possibly hold all that weight."

"These brooms are made to hold three times the weight of a single rider. So it's perfectly safe."

"I don't care what you say. I'm not getting on that thing."

Draco shook his head. "You still don't like to fly do you?"

"I've never liked flying."

"Well it's time to change that." Draco told her holding out his hand towards her again.

"No that's okay. I'm perfectly fine right here on solid ground thank you. You can take Crissy up…but don't go too high…or too fast."

"No you're coming with us." He told her.

"No I'm not…I'm not feeling well."

He rolled his eyes. "You're a terrible liar."

"Really I don't want to go up."

"Don't you trust me?"

She stared at him not giving him an answer.

He shook his head. "Look at me. I wouldn't ask you to come with us if I didn't think it was safe or if I didn't think you would have fun."

"I don't know." She said eyeing the broom.

"Please. I'll come down the second you don't like it. Just try it…please?" He held out his hand again.

Hermione bit her lip, but then hesitantly reached out and grabbed a hold of his. "I don't know how you talk me in to these things." She muttered.

"It's all part of my charm, and you just can't resist."

She rolled her eyes and slowly mounted the broom behind him. She wrapped her arms around his stomach to hold on.

"You're going to have to hold on tighter than that." He said over his shoulder.

She did as he asked. "Just don't go too high, or…"

"Too fast. Got it."

And with that he lifted off the ground and into the sky. Hermione immediately wrapped her arms tight around him and squeezed her eyes tight. After a moment or two when she didn't feel like they were plummeting towards the earth, she managed to open her eyes and looked around.

They were flying over somewhere out in the country. A large field of wildflowers passed quickly underneath them in a blur of colors. The sun was setting behind them, leaving the sky and clouds in beautiful shades of pinks and oranges. She soon relaxed her body against his, enjoying the view around her.

Though she would never admit to him, but flying wasn't all that bad, just as long as she was a passenger and not the one doing the actual flying. She could feel the muscles in his body move as he maneuvered the broom in the sky. And the heat radiating off his body was oddly comforting and soothing making her feel safe, against her better judgment. And the smell of his skin and hair that she had become so familiar with helped as well.

After a few moments of flying in silence she managed to peek over his shoulder to check on Crissy. Who just happened to be fast asleep in her harness against his chest. If that's all it took to get her to sleep, then they should have done this more often.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey everyone, hope you liked this chapter. I'll try to get chapter 12 up as soon as possible. But as always please keep reading and reviewing I love getting your feedback!<strong>


	12. Chapter 12: Hurtful Bludgers

Chapter Twelve: Hurtful Bludgers

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or anything from J.K. Rowling**

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><p>The next afternoon Hermione and Crissy were seated in the box seats meant for family and friends and devoted fans of the Bally Castle Bats quidditch team. Hermione wore a black t-shirt with a large red cartoon bat on the front and the name Malfoy proudly displayed on the back along with Draco's number. Crissy was dressed in a red shirt that had tiny little black bats flying over it with her hair in pigtails on top her head secured with little bat barrettes.<p>

Crissy was squealing and clapping her hands loudly every time Draco flew by their seats. Pansy and Blaise sat next to them and Ron and Vicky sat in the seats behind them. Harry and Ginny couldn't make it due to the fact that the doctors put Ginny on bed rest until her baby was born.

The Bats were still warming up, getting ready to play against the Falmouth Falcons. According to Ron and Blaise this was going to be an easy win for the Bats. Draco told her earlier that day that the coach of the Cannon's would be in attendance to watch him play. Hermione tried to look around in the crowd to spot him, but she couldn't see him anywhere, of course it didn't help that she had no clue what he looked like and he probably wouldn't be wearing a big sign around his neck that read 'Coach of Chudley Cannons sitting here.' She really had nothing to say to the man, she just wanted to see who the man that wanted to split up their semi-perfect happy family.

She looked down on the sidelines where the unmistakable Gwen sat with her father Robbie next to her. She was hard to miss with her long golden hair, tight skirts and kitten heels. Who the hell wore heels to a quidditch match? There was a man on the other side of her father that was talking to them; maybe that was the Chudley coach.

She tried to concentrate on the game, but like Ron and Blaise it was going to be an easy win. They were only an hour into it and the Bats were ahead by 375 points while the Falcons had zero. Now they were just waiting for Draco to catch the snitch.

Hermione and the rest of them watched as Draco slowly circled the pitch looking for the snitch. Then movement towards his left side caught his attention and then he was off following the snitch, weaving in and out of the other players. The seeker on the other team hadn't noticed yet that Draco was closing in on the snitch, which meant Draco had the advantage of catching it.

He flew by their seats so fast you couldn't even blink for fear you'd miss him pass by. He was millimeters away from catching it when a bludger came out of nowhere and smashed into his right side, knocking him completely off his broom.

"No! Draco!" Hermione screamed and stood up out of her seat watching in helpless horror as his body plummeted into the earth at a rapid speed.

Hermione handed Crissy off to Pansy then made her way down to the ground in a speed she didn't think was possible to where Draco laid motionless on the ground. A crowd had started to gather around him, yet no one made any move to check to see if he was alright. Hermione couldn't breathe and thought her heart was going to pound right out of her chest.

She pushed her way through the people who stood by gawking until she finally reached him. He laid there not moving, his eyes were shut and she couldn't concentrate enough to see if he was even breathing. She dropped to her knees afraid to even tough him. What if he broke his neck? What if he broke his back? She was trying desperately not to have a full-fledged panic attack in front of all these people.

"Draco? Draco wake up! Where are you hurt? Can you hear me? Say something, anything." She touched his face, then his neck gently with shaking fingers trying to feel for a pulse. Why wasn't anyone doing anything? "Some get the mediwizard!" she yelled to no one in particular. "Oh Draco please wake up. Don't you dare die on me. You can't leave me here to deal with all of this by myself. Please wake up! You promised me you wouldn't ever fall off your broom. You told me those brooms had a protected ward around them that was supposed to keep the rider on their stupid broom. You lied to me. How could you do that?" Okay now she was rambling and she was started to sound borderline hysterical and to top it off she was crying.

"I didn't lie to you. I said the only way to fall off is if you physically get knocked off your broom by something. And in case you missed it that bludger came out of nowhere." She heard him wheezed.

Hermione looked over at him, her eyes still bleary with tears. His eyes were still closed, but he had his trade mark smirk on his lips. Her mood suddenly changed as if a cold bucket of water had poured over her head. He was struggling to get up on his elbows, but she pushed him back down.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You scared me half to death. I thought you were dead when you didn't answer me the first time." She wiped at her eyes angrily.

He grunted. "Well I got the wind knocked out of me. I was just trying to catch my breath first. And besides it sounded as if you were on a roll, I didn't want to interrupt you." He smirked at her again.

"This isn't funny Draco you could've died. When you started falling towards the ground I thought…" She started to tear up again. "I thought…"

Draco turned serious and reached up to caress her cheek. "Hey. I'm fine, just a little bruised."

She grabbed his hand and put it back down to his side gently. "Don't move you might have broken something."

He sighed. "I'm fine Hermione. The only thing that's broken is my dignity."

"Just don't ever do that again." She said seriously.

"Do what? Get hit by a bludger or fall off my broom?" he joked.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Both you idiot!"

He chuckled the clutched his side.

"I knew you were hurt." She said leaning over him trying to brush his hands away so she could see where was the damn mediwizard?

Just then a blur of blond and heels rushed to Draco's side. "Bloody hell Draco are you hurt? I saw you fall and my heart stopped." Gwen said running a hand lightly over his arm. "Do you have any idea how bad this could be for your career? Why couldn't you choose to get knocked off your broom during next week's game? Instead you had to do it right in front of the Chudley Cannons coach. This could be very bad, very bad indeed. It definitely doesn't put you in a very good light. You want to get on his good side remember. You don't want him to think you can easily get knocked over by a silly little bludger."

"Excuse me what is your problem?" Hermione interrupted her. "No one gives a damn about his career at the moment. I'm more concerned about his health in case you missed it he just fell about five stories and you're worried about him looking bad in front of that coach of yours, where I'm more worried about something being broken like his neck or back."

"Listen. Ms. Granger."

"It's Mrs. Malfoy." Hermione sneered; Draco smiled though she ignored him.

"Right. Mrs. Malfoy. People fall and get knocked off their brooms in quidditch all the time. People rarely die or get seriously hurt that they become paralyzed while playing."

"I'm aware of that, but I still think it's highly inappropriate to be talking about what this might or might not do for the future of his career. As I said before my number one concern right now is his health and well-being. He was clutching his side earlier and I think he might have…"

"Hermione I'm fine just a little bruised." Draco told her.

"I'm sure you are but I want you to get checked out by the mediwizard first so we know for certain."

"See he said he was fine. As I said before players fall in quidditch all the time, it's nothing new or shocking. He might be a bit sore tomorrow morning but other than that he seems okay. Trust me I'm his manger I know what's best for him."

"Well I'm his wife. I think that makes me know more about what's best for him than you do. And I say he needs to see the mediwizard." Hermione practically yelled at the woman who was beginning to really piss her off.

Gwen sighed. "Okay if it will put your mind at ease. Let me just take a look here." Gwen said pushing Draco's quidditch robes to the side and lifting up his shirt to bare his torso and chest.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Hermione said reaching out to pull Draco's shirt back down.

"Relax I'm a certified mediwizard." Gwen said.

"Of course you are." Hermione muttered to herself as she watched Gwen examine the large purple bruised skin surrounding the side of Draco's rib cage.

Draco winced every time she touched that area and Hermione knew he was more than bruised there.

"Hmmm, well it looks and feels as if he has at least three cracked ribs on his right side, but I don't believe anything is broken. Does your back hurt? Is your neck sore? Head hurt?" Gwen asked Draco.

"No. Other than from lying on the cold hard ground I don't think I hurt anywhere else other than my side." He told her.

"Can you move your legs? Wiggle your fingers?"

"Yep."

"Good."

Gwen continued to 'examine' his naked torso running her hands over his pectorals and abs. It looked like she was feeling him up rather than giving him a medical examination. Hermione's fingers twitched watching her touch him. She wanted nothing more than to shove Gwen's touchy feely hands away from him. But against her better judgment she kept her hands to herself and waited until Gwen finished her examination.

"Well you're going to be quite sore for the next few days. I suppose it isn't wise to let you finish the game today. And unfortunately you're going to have to take a few days off from practice until you're ribs heal. I'll go tell the coach that you won't be able to finish the game. Right now you should probably check with mediwizard Charles to see what kind of treatments should work best for your ribs." Gwen said getting off the ground and turning around and disappeared into the crowds.

Once Gwen left them alone Draco managed to sit up on his own and Hermione attempted to help him up, which was a wasted attempt because he was determined to prove to her that he was fine. As soon as they both made it to their feet, the crowd surrounding them erupted in applause. It was enough to even make Draco blush as he gave a sheepish wave to the crowd as they slowly walked by.

Blaise and Ron met them halfway followed by Vicky and Pansy who was still holding Crissy. "Man that was some fall. You alright mate?" Blaise asked Draco.

"I'm fine just a few bruised ribs is all."

"He's has cracked ribs and he has to sit the rest of the game out and take a few days off until he heals." Hermione corrected him.

Draco rolled his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal. I'm fine, it barely hurts."

Once Pansy and Vicky reached them Crissy who looked like she had been crying reached out to Draco wanting him to hold her, but Hermione reached for her instead.

"Daddy can't hold you right now sweetie, because daddy's hurt."

Draco sighed. "Hermione I'm fine really."

"I saw your black and blue torso. So don't pretend you're not in pain."

The game continued on behind them as they all reached the Bats locker room where the mediwizard Charles gave Draco the same prognosis as Gwen did; three cracked ribs and bruised tissue on the right side of his torso and chest. He gave him some special ointment with instructions to massage it into his injured side twice a day for three minutes and lots of rest. No strenuous activity for a few days.

Draco hated leaving the game early especially after something minor like a couple bruised ribs. It was his first official game as a professional quidditch player and he blew it. He should have been paying more attention to his surroundings when he was chasing the snitch.

It was more than his ribs that were hurt it was his pride as well. And now Hermione was making a huge fuss over him, which was quite amusing especially when she tried to one up Gwen and her expert advice. And the fact that Hermione was making a bigger deal out of his injury then was necessary could help put him at the advantage, maybe she could play his nurse and attend to his every need, he thought with a smile. Not that she would actually agree to something like that, but he could certainly dream about it.

The Bats ended up winning even without his help. The second string seeking Mike caught the snitch that he had been chasing before he got knocked off his broom.

The three of them apparated back to their house. Hermione put Crissy in her playpen then ordered Draco to sit down on the sofa and rest. He didn't like feeling helpless, he had a couple bruised ribs, it's not like he had a broken leg or anything. He watched as Hermione went to the bedroom after she settled Crissy in her playpen.

He got bored and restless after sitting and doing nothing for two minutes so he got up and followed her to the bedroom. She wasn't there, but he heard water running in the bathroom, the door was cracked open so he walked over to it and peeked inside. She sat on the edge of the bathtub running her fingers under the tap, probably to check the temperature he remembered her doing that every time they had to give Crissy a bath.

She changed her clothes, instead of wearing an outfit representing his quidditch team, she now wore a fitted t-shirt and an old pair of worn jeans, or at least he thought they were old, because they were faded in color and had a ripped hole halfway up her leg just above her knee. She had the top button undone and folded over at the waistband of her jeans, probably because she wasn't able to fasten them over her growing belly. But all his sexually frustrated mind could think of was that it was easy access for him to remove from her body later.

She also had her hair twisted up in a knot on top of her head that drove him crazy. He never thought that the back of a woman's neck was particularly attractive, but he was finding Hermione's nape very sexy to look at and even better to touch the soft skin there. He ran a hand down his face. Now was not the time to get turned on especially when all she wanted to do was treat him with kid gloves because of his injury and not rip his clothes off.

Her back was to him so she didn't see him come in. He cleared his throat which got her attention. Her back straighten and she twisted around to look at him.

"Oh good you're here. I ran a bath for you. I figured you could use a good soak. I added some mineral salts to the water that should help soothe you're aches and pains." She told him with a slight blush creeping up her cheeks.

"Uh thanks." He said looking from her to the bath she prepared for him, wow she really was taking this Florence Nightingale think seriously.

"Sure. Well you do that and I'll go make dinner."

"Would you like to join me?" he teased, he couldn't help it and it was the perfect opportunity to do so and he couldn't resist seeing what her reaction would be.

"What?" she asked confused.

"Would you like to join me?" He asked again looking towards the bath. "There's plenty of room for two." He looked back at her.

Just as he suspected, she was as red as a strawberry. "N…" she cleared her throat. "No thank you." She said trying to look serious.

"You sure? I was hoping you could help me wash my back, since I probably won't be able to reach, what with my battered ribs and all." He tried to make a pouty face towards her.

She rolled her eyes at him and handed him a sponge thing connected to a long stick. "No."

He took the stick sponge thing from her. "No, you're not sure?" He teased again.

He was rewarded with another eye roll. "No. I am sure. And that's to help wash you're back with, in the places you can't reach." She pointed to the stick thing with a smirk. "Now get in there before the water turns cold."

"Okay." Before she could turn to leave he lifted his shirt, and was pleased when she didn't run out of the room, but watched as he took his shirt off.

Unfortunately it was followed by a gasp when she got a look at his injured side. He did admit that it looked pretty gruesome what with it being a dark purple and black color covering the majority of his ribcage on the right side of his body.

"It looks a lot worse than it feels." He tried to make light of it, until he saw the tears in her eyes.

He walked over to her wanting to hold her, but she stepped back. "You could've died." She whispered.

"But I didn't." he assured her.

"I thought I lost you, when I saw you fall. I was afraid you were going to leave me to deal with all of this by myself…alone." She gave a harsh laugh and wiped at her tears. "How's that for selfish?"

He reached for her and put his arms around her, this time she let him, but she didn't hug him back, probably afraid to touch his injured side. "No it's not selfish. And I can't promise I won't get hurt again while playing quidditch, but I told you last night we're in this together until we find the answers we're looking for. And I meant it. I have no intention of leaving you. I'm sorry I scared you."

She nodded into his chest then pulled away. "Just try not to do it again." She told him, and then went back into her nurse mode. "Make sure you wrap that around your torso tightly when you're finished." She told him pointing to a cloth bandage that was sitting by the sink.

"Whatever you say Nurse Granger." He teased.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned to leave.

"The offer still stands in case you change your mind."

She chuckled as she started to walk out the door. "And the answer is still no." she said over her shoulder smiling.

"You're loss then." He called out after her."

"I'm sure." He heard her say as she left the bedroom and shut the door behind her.

After she left him alone, he undressed the rest the of way and got in the hot water, though what he really needed was to stand under the shower and let cold water run down his body. Especially since he was still sweaty and grimy from the game, not to mention it would help cool down other things on him as well. But once he sunk down into the hot water and leaned back and relaxed he did feel better.

After a nice long soak he got out and dried off. He attempted to wrap the cloth bandage around him, but gave up on the second try. It hurt too much to twist and reach behind him. He needed an extra pair of hands to pull that off and he knew the perfect person for the task. He thought about calling her back in when he caught a whiff of something delicious smelling coming from kitchen. And his growling stomach overruled the need to wrap the bandage around his chest.

He quickly threw on a shirt and walked out the bedroom. Hermione was putting a bowl of garlic roasted potatoes on the kitchen table. Salad was already plated and if he wasn't mistaken he smelled the delicious aroma of a Sunday roast. How did she know this was his favorite meal growing up as a boy?

She saw him and straightened up. "Hi." She said as she pushed a stray curl that fell from her clip back behind her ear. "I hope you're hungry."

He nodded. "Starving. What is all of this?" he asked nodding towards the dinner set up.

"I thought it would be nice to have an actual home cooked meal, instead of ordering take out again."

"And you cooked all of this?" he asked surprised.

Hermione blushed. "Well I had a little help…okay a lot of help. Ziggy help me cook the roast and the potatoes and I put together the salad." She told him, Ziggy rounded the corner holding a basket of warm bread and waved sheepishly at Draco.

He waved back. "Well it smells great."

The two of them took their seats at the dining table. Crissy was already seated in her highchair. Draco watched as Ziggy placed the bread on the table.

"Ziggy would you like to join us for dinner?" There is plenty to go around." He asked

"She can't. She has a hot date tonight with another house elf named Waltzy." Hermione smiled at Ziggy who blushed a light pink.

"Yes Mrs. Hermione, but Ziggy can stay if she is needed here."

"Nonsense Ziggy, you go on and have some fun tonight. Thank you very much for all of your help with dinner."

"It was no trouble for Ziggy. Ziggy likes helping Mrs. Hermione's family." And with that she vanished with a wink.

"House elves go on dates?" Draco asked surprised.

"Why wouldn't they?" Hermione shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess I just never really thought about it before." He said starting in on his salad. "How did you know this was my favorite meal?" He asked her.

"Ziggy mentioned it and I thought it would be nice, something different for a change." She said with a slight blush.

Sometime after dinner Hermione and Draco were in the nursery trying to put Crissy down for bed. She had been fussy all night, probably because she didn't have much of a nap since they were at the game most of the day. After Draco read her two story books, she finally fell asleep. They quietly shut the nursery door behind them.

"Well I've learned a valuable lesson there. Never let her miss her daily nap." Hermione said.

"Well look at it this way maybe she'll sleep through most of the night." Draco chuckled. "Now that we're alone can I ask you something?"

Hermione nodded. "Um…yeah sure." She said sounding a bit nervous.

"Well earlier I had trouble putting that bandage thing around me and…"

"You don't have it on? Why didn't you tell me earlier? You need to wear that to help support your ribs. They may not be broken now, but if you're not careful you could easily break them simply by breathing to hard."

He rolled his eyes. "Well I haven't broken anything yet so could you help me with it?"

"Yeah I'll go get it and it's probably time for you to rub the ointment on that the healer gave you." She told him as she got up and disappeared into the bedroom, then came back out holding the cloth bandage in one hand and the small jar of ointment in the other. She came over to the sofa that he was sitting on and sat down next to him. "Um…do you want to rub this on…or um do you need help with that as well?" she asked him sounding nervous again.

"The majority of the bruised area is on my back so if you don't mind I could use your help rubbing it on because I'll have trouble reaching back there."

"No I don't mind." She said blushing a bit.

"So do you want to do this here, or in the kitchen where there's a better light?" He asked her feeling slightly nervous himself which was ridiculous because she was about to rub smelly ointment on his ribs which wasn't sexy or relaxing at all, at least it certainly wasn't when mediwizard Charles did it earlier that day.

It was just the anticipation of her about to touch him. Girls have touched him before, hell Gwen practically felt him up after he fell and nothing. He didn't feel any nervousness or excitement about that when her hands were running over his skin. But the thought of Hermione's hands running over his skin was a different story all together.

"Here's fine." She told him.

Hermione watched as Draco took his shirt off and laid it next to him on the sofa. She tried not to stare at his naked torso or his injured side. All she had to do was rub the ointment on and wrap the bandage around him and that was it, nothing more…so why was she all nervous all of a sudden? With shaky fingers she unscrewed the cap from the jar of ointment and immediately wanted to put it back on or plug her nose or something.

"Oh my god that smells awful." She said trying not to breathe through her nose.

Draco grunted. "Yeah which means you should probably get on with it. Once it makes contact with skin it doesn't smell as bad."

"Okay, here it goes." She said taking a deep breath and with a grimace stuck her fingers into the smelly goo.

She gently moved his arm out of the way so she could reach his injured ribs. She tentatively touched her fingers to his side and he sucked in a gasp. Hermione immediately pulled her hand away from him.

"Sorry did I hurt you?"

He shook his head and cleared his throat. "No your hands are just cold." He told her.

She went back touching her fingers to his warm skin. Gently rubbing in the ointment. She could feel his eyes on her, but she stayed focus on her task, if she allowed herself to get distracted then she might hurt him and she didn't want that.

"Am I hurting you?" She asked quietly rubbing in the area around his back.

"No," he said his voice sounding low and husky, the hard muscles in his back and abdomen moving and bunching with each breath he took beneath her fingertips.

Once she covered all of the injured area on his skin she pulled away and wiped her hands on a towel. "All done." She told him still avoiding eye contact with him.

She was afraid if she looked into his eyes she would lose all control and give in to what she wanted to do most, which was kiss him. She reached for the cloth bandage and stood up motioning for him to stand up as well. He stood in front of her less than an arm's length away. He towered over her about a foot above her head. The tension in the air definitely kicked up a notch and Hermione was finding it rather difficult to breathe, and not because of the smelling goo on his skin.

"Can…can you hold your arms out?" she asked him embarrassed that her voice shook a bit when she spoke.

He stepped closer to her and did as she asked. She began to wrap the bandage around his torso, awkward at first because she had to lean in close to get her arms around his back without actually having to touch him anymore then she already was. She rounded his back one last time and tucked the end into the bandage making sure it was tight and secure. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek and she knew he was still watching her.

"Hermione." He whispered.

Finally she looked up into his eyes noticing them full of heat and passion.

"Is this whole friend's thing working out for you?" He asked her.

"Huh?" Not expecting him to say something like that.

"This. Between you and me. Us being just friends. Is it working out for you?" He asked her again taking a step closer to her.

"I…um it was your idea to be friends, wasn't it?" She asked getting that nervous excited feeling deep in her belly when he kept looking at her so intently.

"Yes and I'm beginning to regret coming up with that idea. So what about you?"

"She began to nod her head but stopped herself. "No…it's not." She said quietly now not being able to look away from him.

He took another step closer to her until he was only a few inches away from her. "Do you know what I've been wanted to do all day?"

Hermione shook her head no, "What?" she asked breathlessly.

"This." He whispered and leaned in and kissed her.

Hermione accepted this kiss immediately opening for him effortlessly without having to think about it, it was just a natural response for her. She ran her hands lightly up along his chest savoring the hard muscles underneath her fingertips, then slowly ran her hands further up to circle around the back of his neck and toyed with the ends of his hair. He moaned her name against her lips as her tongue tentatively dueled with his.

"You drive me absolutely mad." He whispered kissing her along her jaw and down her neck. "You're so beautiful and sexy it hurts." He said into her ear playfully nipping her earlobe.

"You hurt? Maybe…maybe we should stop then." She said tilting her head to give him better access to her neck, but made no attempt at stepping back away from him.

"Not that kind of hurt." He told as he gently grabbed her hand and guided it to the zipper of his pants.

Hermione gasped at the feel of his hard length beneath her fingertips.

"Feel what you do to me?" He whispered against her lips.

Instead of moving her hand away in disgust at his boldness, she stayed and lingering there to touch him. He deepened the kiss making her forget everything, but him and her, together. And in this moment that's all she wanted, needed. That thought made her legs weak and shaky.

"Draco maybe we should sit down or something. I think…I think my legs are about to give…eek!"

He scooped her up in his arms and she quickly wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around this neck. But then it all came back to her…his injury.

"No Draco, put me down, I'm too heavy. Your ribs…you're not supposed to…"

"Shh." He silenced her with a kiss and sat them both down on the sofa. He sat her on his lap with her knees straddling his hips. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded. "Are you're ribs hurting?" She asked him.

"Not a bit." He told her as he grabbed her hips and moved her forward pressing her hips into his.

Hermione forgot all about his ribs as she leaned in to kiss him. After a long delicious snogging session she couldn't take it anymore, she pulled back a bit so she could look at him. "Draco?"

"Yes love?"

"I want…um I want you to…touch me." She asked quietly biting her lip nervously, not sure how he would react and not entirely sure what she was even asking of him.

He smiled at her as his warm fingers made their way underneath the hem of her shirt and traveled upward until he cupped her breast in his hand. She arched towards him trying to feel as much as possible. She was sick of shying away from what she wanted. And she wanted him.

"More." She whispered against his mouth. "I want to feel you're hands against my skin." She told him feeling bolder then she ever had in her life.

He did as she asked and unclasped the back of her bra and in slow torture moved his hand around to touch her once more, taking his time to feel, stroke and caress her.

"Draco." She moaned and arched further into his touch, her heart was pounding; she had never wanted anything more badly then him at the moment.

"Tell me what you want love." He whispered in her ear.

She was about to tell him what she wanted, when she heard crying. It was as if cold water had rained down on her. She pulled away.

"Crissy's up." She said.

Draco sagged against the back of the sofa and let out a sigh. "I'll go check on her." He told her.

Hermione crawled off his lap so he could stand up.

Once he stood up he leaned back over and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "Don't go anywhere." He smirked then made his way towards the nursery.

Hermione watched him leave the room and smiled as she touched her fingers to her lips which were puffy and no doubt red from being thoroughly kissed. She relaxed back against the cushions feeling giddy and girly, and tried not to let the nerves get the best of her when she thought about what might happen next once he came back out. After a few minutes she debated whether or not she should go check on them and see if he needed any help with Crissy. When he came back out holding Crissy in his arms. Crissy was still crying, her cheeks flushed and her nose running.

"I can't get her to stop crying. Does she feel hot to you?" He asked walking towards her.

Hermione stood up and took Crissy from him and felt her forehead, she did feel hot. "Your right I think she might have a fever."

"What are we supposed to do about that?" He asked running a hand down Crissy's baby curls.

"I'm not sure. We could take her to St. Mungo's. It might not be anything, but I don't want to take any risks."

"Okay I'll go put together her bag." He told her grabbing his shirt off the sofa and regrettably putting it back on.

"Make sure you grab her Dragon." She called after him.

Crissy coughed and then started crying harder.

"I know honey; we'll get you all better in just a little bit." Hermione said kissing Crissy's forehead trying to soothe her.

Draco came back out holding Crissy's dragon in one hand and her diaper bag in the other. Hermione went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of apple juice for Crissy to drink, she always remembered her mum giving her apple juice to drink when she wasn't feeling well.

"Okay if you hand me Crissy. I'll be on my way." Draco told her.

"What? No you're the one who's hurt. If anything I should be the one to take her and you should be the one to stay here. And if you don't like that then I'm coming with you, no time for negotiation."

He sighed. "Okay fine. Let's go then."

Hermione walked towards him holding Crissy and grabbed a hold of his hand and then apparated to St. Mungos.

It was close to midnight and the waiting lounge at St. Mungos was packed. Crissy's fever still hadn't gone down, though she did become a little less fussy the longer they had to wait and the more tired she became. Hermione had already looked through every issue of _Witch Weekly_ they had available for people to look through as well as read the day's issue of the _Daily Prophet_…twice. It was times like this that she would kill to get her hands on an actual book. It felt as if they had been waiting there all night long, when really it had only been about three hours.

"You look tired. Maybe you should go on home and get some sleep. I'll wait here. I'm afraid they're not going to see us anytime soon." Draco told Hermione who sat next to her holding Crissy.

"No, I'm fine. As I've said before if anyone needs to go home it's you. You're not supposed to be up and about. Instead you're supposed to be resting." She told him quietly.

"Cristina Malfoy." The receptionist said over the speaker in the waiting lounge. "The healer is ready for you now."

Hermione's heart was breaking hearing Crissy cry and carry about. You would think she was getting a shot or something, when all the healer was doing was checking her nose, ears and mouth and listening to her breathing as a nurse held her down. Hermione wanted nothing more than to take her baby in her arms and leave this place. Anything to stop her from crying. Draco must have noticed her distress because he reached down and grabbed her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Well it doesn't seem to be anything serious, just a common chest cold. Nothing that can't be cured with a spoon full of children's pepperup potion twice a day until her symptoms reduce. Just make sure you stay with her until the steam stops coming out of her ears. It's sometimes tends to frighten the younger ones at first. And make sure she drinks lots of fluids as well."

"So that's it? It's just a cold, nothing more?"

"Yep just a cold, she should be as good as new in a couple of days. If not come back and see me."

"Okay thank you very much for all of your help." Hermione told the healer as she took a fussy Crissy into her arms from the nurse.

Once the healer and nurse left the room Draco spoke. "We waited in the waiting room for three hours at this time at night just so the healer could tell us to give her pepperup potion? We could have brewed that at home." He said sounding irritated.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry. Children are different that adults, it could have been anything and could have gotten much worse if not treated properly." She handed him the diaper bag. "So can we please just go home now?"

"Yeah okay let's go home."

The healer gave Crissy a spoonful of pepperup potion before he left the room and it was already starting to take effect. Steam was slowly starting to trickle out her ears and her face carried a pink hue to it. Once they were finally back home it was nearly two o'clock in the morning.

"Go ahead and go to bed Hermione. I'll stay up with her until the steam stops." Draco said.

"No you need to rest, I'll stay up."

"I'm fine Hermione. I'm not even that tired and you look exhausted, so go ahead and go to sleep. I'll let you know if anything changes."

Hermione finally gave in and kissed Crissy goodnight then went to bed.

The next morning Hermione could see the sunlight streaming in the windows through her closed eyes. She felt lazy and tired and could easily sleep another four hours. The warm strong arm that circled her waist shifted.

"What time is it?" Draco mumbled behind her.

She could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. She cracked one eye open to look at the clock on the bedside table, but made no move to actually…move. "Early." She mumbled snuggling back against his body. He kissed the back of her neck so lightly that it sent shivers down her body all the way to her toes. "What time did you finally come to bed?" she asked him.

"Mmm about four hours ago." He told her moving her hair out of the way so he could kiss down her neck.

"Then you should probably go back to sleep." She told him starting to roll over to face him, but she didn't realize how close he was to her and she accidentally nudged his injured side with her elbow.

Draco let out a curse and clutched his side rolling onto his back.

Hermione sat up and went to his side. "Oh god Draco I'm so sorry, I completely forgot. Are you alright…What am I saying? Of course you're not alright." She rambled hovering over him.

"Just give me a second." He wheezed out, his eyes tearing up a bit.

Once he managed to catch his breath she asked. "Can I do something? Do you need anything?"

"You could kiss it and make it better." He smirked still clutching his side.

The man had a one tracked mind.

She eyed his bandaged side. "Uh not with that smelly goo all over it." She joked.

"Fine then you can kiss me here instead." He pointed to his lips.

She wasn't going to do it, but once her eyes moved to his mouth she changed her mind and decided to go for it. Licking her lips she lowered her head and kissed him lightly on the lips, then pulled away. His hand came up and cupped the back of her head bringing it back down to meet his lips.

"More." He whispered as their lips met again.

He flipped her over so that she was now the one laying on her back and he was the one hovering above her as he deepened the kiss. A tapping noise at the window interrupted them.

"Now what?" Draco said pulling away from her slightly.

"It's an owl." Hermione pointed out.

"Who would be writing at this hour?" he asked as Hermione rolled off the bed and went to the window to retrieve the letter that the owl was carrying.

Hermione looked to see who the sender was and her face paled. "It's…it's from Candlewick."

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><p>AN: Hey everyone, sorry it took me so long to update, I've been crazy busy with school and work. Anyway I hope you like this chapter I tried to make it somewhat exciting...trying to add more romance into the mix. I know most of you having been wanting them to just get together already...but of course I couldn't make it to easy for them, so you all probably hate me right now for breaking them up twice before things got too hot and heavy between them. But just wait, they'll get together for real soon ;) And also just a random side note if you like this story, then look for my other Harry Potter fanfiction that I'll be posting up soon. It's completely different from this story, but it's still a romancecomedy between Hermione and Draco. It's based on another book I read a while back called _ Blonde with A Wand_ by Vicki Lewis Thompson and also on the story of _Disney's Beauty and the Beast._ My story is called Hermione and the Beast, I'm going to post up the first two chapters soon so keep a look out for it. And as always please keep reading and thanks so much for all of your patience, and I love getting your feedback so please review and tell me what you think!


	13. Chapter 13: Candlewick's Letter

Chapter Thirteen: Candlewick's Letter

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Harry Potter_ or J.K. Rowling

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><p>"So what does Candlewick have to say?" Draco asked throwing his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.<p>

Hermione sat down next to him on the edge of the bed still reading the letter. "She says 'sorry I haven't been able to write back sooner. I'm deep in the thick of the rainforests of Brazil leading a group of muggle Herbologists trying to locate some rare form of plant-life to help them find a cure for cancer. And because of that, it made it difficult for the owl post to find me. Not to mention the long flight back and forth." Hermione glanced over at Draco who shrugged and motioned her to continue. "She says that she stopped teaching four years ago, because she was ready for something different and that she has done the project with students as well as soon-to-be parents who wanted to take courses in parenting. And not once has she ever had or heard of any complications regarding the potion that brings the 'rock babies' to life, especially something as drastic as time travel. She says she doesn't understand how it would even be possible given the ingredients in the potion do not possess any of the qualities for time travel, especially when combined together. She says she can understand how terrifying and frustrating it must have been for us, if what we told her in the previous letters were true and that we were in Hogwarts working on our project one day and suddenly stuck six years into the future the next. And that she would have never assigned the project if such problems were caused by the assigned potion. And that she listed the ingredients and directions for the reverse potion. Though she has no idea if it would even work because she has never had to use it before therefore has never attempted to make it either. Mainly because it is very time consuming, and again because she had never experienced any complications with the potion to begin with. She also says she wishes she could be of further help to us, but she really has no idea how we could've gotten into this mess if it wasn't because of the potion. Also to write to her again if we have any questions." Hermione finished reading the letter and flipped to the next page that had the reverse potion. "Wait, so that's it?" That's all she had to say? 'Sorry I don't really know how to help you but best of luck anyway.'" She mimicked Candlewick's squeaky voice, then gasped.

"What? What was is it?" Draco asked her.

Hermione shook her head. "Four months…the potion requires four months for it to brew properly and the majority of the ingredients are either very rare or illegal to get and use. Candlewick must have been very sure of herself that the original potion was fail proof if the reverse potion is so outrageous to make. Ugh, this is horrible we're never going to find a way to get back at this rate." Hermione flopped back on the bed, her arms covering her face.

Draco took the piece of parchment that had the potion on it and read it quietly.

Hermione glanced over at him when he continued to remain silent next to her. "Why aren't you angry about this? I'm infuriated, though it's too early and I'm still too tired to do anything about it right now." She told him still lying on her back with her feet dangling over the edge of the bed.

When Draco still didn't say anything she raised up on her elbows to get a better look at him, his shoulders were stiff and his brows bunched together as if he was thinking.

"Are you okay?" she asked him.

After a few more seconds of silence he spoke. "What if…what if we decided not to go back? What if we stayed here instead?"

Hermione sat up and looked at him. "What?" she asked him confused.

He turned and looked at her. "Would it be so awful if we just stayed here?"

She shook her head trying to make sense of what he was saying. "You don't want to go back?"

"It's not that I don't want to go back per say, but we have a pretty good thing going on here and now if we went back we would have to leave Crissy behind and everything else here as well."

"Oh Draco." Hermione said quietly, now torn between wanting to go back and taking in the idea of someday leaving Crissy which was to heart breaking to even think about. "Oh course I don't want to leave Crissy. But we have to go back, we don't belong here. You know that right?"

"Why? Why is it so important that we need to go back?"

Hermione looked at him as if he had gone mental.

Draco stared out the window and ran a frustrated hand through his hair and over his face. "You don't understand. Back at Hogwarts my life was miserable. My father lost his job and his respect among the Ministry, not to mention he's been stunned by the entire Wizarding community. And now he drinks himself into oblivion. And well you know that eventually he'll snap and go completely mad. My mother's in the middle of divorcing him." He took a deep breath as Hermione sat there watching him silently waiting for him to continue. "Everyone at school is either terrified of me or disgusted that I even attempted to step back on school grounds given the fact that I'm now a former deatheater…"

"But you weren't one by choice. You had no control over that. You just did whatever you had to do in order not to get killed. Most of the people at school know that now and if they don't then they've been misinformed. And just that fact that you came back to school in the first place show that you have lots of courage."

"I was still a deatheater nonetheless. It's something that will haunt me for the rest of my life, knowing the things that I've seen and the things that I've done. And the only reason I came back was because I couldn't spend another second in the manor, not with my father there. That's not courage." Draco said angrily clenching his fists together tightly.

"You can't change the past. But you can still move forward and make it better." She told him quietly.

"My life was falling apart. I've have to take double the class load because I failed six term. And McGonagall said if I don't pass my classes this term them I won't be able to graduate on time. And as is I'm barely passing. The only people who will even talk to me are Blaise and Pansy…"

"And me." Hermione added quietly, she saw his lips twitch a bit at that.

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm happy here. It's probably the happiest I've ever been in my entire life. I have a family, Crissy, a home, friends; even if they are Potter and Weasley, an amazing dream career…and you." He added so quietly that she almost missed it.

Her heart rate picked up as she stared at his profile. "I…make you happy?" she asked breathlessly.

Draco turned to look at her and shrugged smiling slightly. "You may be a contributing factor in all of this." He told her lightheartedly, and then turned serious again. "Just think about. I'll still help you make the potion and if Candlewick is right then we still have four months before we can even do anything anyway. So just think about it okay?" he asked her earnestly.

Taking a deep breath, she nodded. "Okay." She replied softly.

"Okay." He repeated quietly searching her face with his eyes. "I'm going to go get Crissy up." He told her.

She nodded and watched him get up and walk out the door, then looked back down at the letter lying on the bed beside her. This whole time she thought he was the one who couldn't wait to get back. And now he doesn't want to leave at all. Of course she doesn't want to leave, but she can't imagine living the rest of their lives like this; missing six years of their lives and just getting by on photo albums and scrapbooks to fill in the gaps?

But she could understand why he wouldn't want to go back…but they had to, because they might look like 23 year olds, but mentally they were still 18. Ugh, everything is becoming more and more difficult with each passing day. Draco's right they…meaning she just needs to think about it, and they had a while. She got up and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

She thought a shower would relax her a bit, but it barely made a dent. Why couldn't she for once have a worry free day? Everything was going so smoothly, that is, if you didn't count Draco falling off his broom and Crissy getting sick, everything had been going fairly well. And when they finally get at least one possible solution to getting back, Draco has to go and drop the bomb of him not wanting to go back.

She let out a breath, maybe it was food that she needed to calm down with? She quickly changed into a loose t-shirt and a pair of jeans that has an elastic waist, which we're a bit big on her. She blew out a frustrated breath. She couldn't win, either her pants were so tight she couldn't breathe or they were too big that she feared they would fall off. After she got dressed she walked into the kitchen.

She expected to walk into the kitchen and see Draco feeding Crissy or something of that sort…alone. What she didn't expect to find was a third person sitting in her kitchen especially one leggy blonde bimbo by the name of Gwen. Biting back a grown of frustration she straightened her shoulders and walked in as if Gwen being there in her kitchen didn't bother her, even if Draco was sitting next to her at the table shirtless in a pair of jeans that hung loose on his hips.

Damn the man for being completely oblivious to his perfect bare-chested…manly-ness. Especially when being in the same room with a woman who clearly had some sort of ulterior motives other than being his manager. He said something that made her laugh her annoying wicked witch laugh and turned when he heard her approaching footsteps behind him.

"Ah, there you are. Look who showed up this morning." He told her gesturing over to Gwen.

Hermione gritted her teeth and smiled at her through tight lips as Gwen wiggled her fingers at her. "And what brings you here today at…" she looked over at the clock on the wall "…6:30 in the morning?"

"Oh I'm just trying to convince Draco here to come with me on another tour of the Chudley pitch and the apartments we'll be living in."

Hermione almost chocked on the pumpkin juice she took a sip of. "You'll be living there as well?" she asked her.

"Well of course. I am his manager after all."

"Well of course why didn't I think of that." She muttered sarcastically.

"Play nice." Draco whispered out of the corner of his mouth so that only she could hear. "As I was telling Gwen, today might not be a good idea, what with Crissy being sick and I'm still not feeling 100% with my ribs, it's probably best if I stay here and rest." Draco told Gwen.

"Tomorrow then? I got a hold of two access passes that will take us on a special tour of the stadium and you can meet and hangout with all the blokes on the teams."

"We're busy tomorrow." Hermione blurted out.

Draco turned to her smirking and arching his eyebrow at her.

"But I have access passes. How could you have possibly already made plans when you only got hurt yesterday?"

"He has a life, and you don't get to control every waking moment of it." Hermione sneered at Gwen.

"Well maybe if Hermione could come with us, we could switch our…plans around for another time."

"But I only have two passes; do you know how hard they are to come by? You don't realize the strings I had to pull to get theses. And besides I couldn't get them for just anyone."

Hermione bit back the slew of curses she wanted to throw at Gwen.

"If I'm going to consider playing for the cannons then Hermione needs to see the pitch and all the faculties so I can get her opinion before I make my final decision. And if you can't get an extra pass for her then you can forget about the special tour."

Hermione was delighted to see Gwen's pinched flush face as she took in Draco's words.

"I'll see what I can do." Gwen told him through clenched teeth, as she started to get up. "I'll check back in tomorrow to see how your feeling." She told them then apparated out of the kitchen.

"I really hate that woman." Hermione muttered as she got up and walked over to the refrigerator and grabbed her ever present jar of pickles. She could feel Draco watching her. "What?"

"You're a jealous little thing aren't you?" He told her smirking.

Hermione rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not jealous. I'm just…concerned about her. She looks at you like all she wants to do is rip your clothes off and have her wicked way with you. Instead of focusing on your career like she's supposed to be doing. Speaking of which, would it have killed you to put a shirt on?"

Draco chuckled. "You can tell all of that by the way she looks at me? Rip my clothes off huh?" He teased her.

"Well it's obvious she has ulterior motives when it comes to you."

"Hmm obvious huh?" he teased her again.

"Yeah well maybe you're just blind or something. And when the hell were you going to tell me about her living with you if you take the Chudley's position?"

"She's not going to be living with me; she lives in the apartment that will be directly across from mine. If I chose to play for the Cannons, which I'm still not convinced it's the right move to make."

"How is it that she's allowed to live there with you during the week or whatever, but your family isn't?"

"Because she's my manager, although most quidditch managers aren't generally female. But anyway it's not that uncommon I suppose." He told her. "So what are we going to do tomorrow?" He asked trying to change the subject.

"Hmm?" Hermione turned to him munching on a pickle.

"You told Gwen that we have plans tomorrow, so what are we going to do?"

"Oh um…uh yeah we…um I…uh I lied about that we don't have any plans tomorrow."

Draco laughed out loud. "Yeah I figured I just wanted to see you sweat."

Hermione threw a pickle at him.

"Hey watch it." He chuckled dodging her throw.

Hermione walked over to Crissy who was munching on some cereal in her highchair. "How is she doing this morning?" Hermione asked Draco.

"Better I think. She still has a slight fever and stuffy nose, but she doesn't seem to be any worse than she was last night."

Hermione put a hand to Crissy's forehead; hmm she was still a little warm. "Have you given her the pepperup potion yet?"

"No not yet, I got sidetracked when Gwen showed up."

Hermione went over and grabbed the vial of potion off the counter; then took a teaspoon and turned back to Crissy and held it to her lips. Crissy squirmed away from the medicine. "Come on sweetheart open up." Hermione tried again, but Crissy turned her head. "Just one sip and it will be over before you know it. So open up for mommy."

Crissy squirmed some more. "Nooo." She cried.

Hermione slumped down in her chair. She didn't want to force Crissy to take the potion, but she didn't know how else to give it to her and make her feel better. Crissy continued to cry so Hermione set the spoon down and picked Crissy up out of her highchair and held her in her arms. Until she settled down. A few minutes later Draco handed Crissy her bottle of juice. Crissy accepted it and began to drink. Seconds later steam started trickling out of her ears and her face flushed to a light pink. Hermione looked at Draco in question.

"I mixed in the potion with her apple juice." Draco whispered in her ear, and then shrugged. "That's what Ziggy always used to do with me when I was a boy and didn't want to take my medicine."

"That's very clever I would have never thought of that." Hermione told him.

"And as for this little one…" Draco reached out and tickled Crissy's belly. "I don't know if we should be proud that she learned a new word or disappointed that she know how to say 'no' now."

Hermione chuckled. "I suppose it's a blessing in disguise. And hopefully she won't use it against us."

"Time will tell I guess."

"Speaking of medicine. Isn't it time to rub on that smelly medicine of yours?"

"Yeah just let me take a shower first."

Hermione watched as Draco left the room, then went back to the kitchen table and finished eating breakfast.

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><p>"What a crazy morning." Draco thought as he walked towards the bedroom.<p>

First Candlewick's letter and then him spilling his guts out to Hermione about his concerns about going back to their present time. Shit, he's never talked to anyone about any of that stuff before, not even Blaise, not even his mother. The only person who knew about his failing grades was McGonagall…and well every professor that failed him sixth year. And no one really knew all the struggles that had been going on with his family, but his family. And he's never been one to talk about emotions, and insincerities before, especially his. And now Hermione know…everything, all of it.

But instead of laughing at him or feel sorry for him, she just listened and offered to help him even. That was one of the really great things that he was learning about her; was that she was companionate about people she cared about and that she was including him as one of those people and also that she never judged anyone, Gwen being the exception of course.

He did not want to stick around and see what happens if those two women ever got stuck in a room together alone. He thought it was quite amusing how Hermione was so jealous…or concerned as she put it; about Gwen. She really had nothing to worry about. Sure Gwen might have ulterior motives when it came to him, but it was nothing he couldn't handle nor was he interested in whatever Gwen had to offer him. And he hoped Hermione knew that.

Now he just had to find a way to convince Hermione to stay here with him instead of using that potion to get them back. He didn't know how he was going to do that, but he'd find a way. He thought as he stepped under the hot spray of the shower.

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><p>AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter though it's a bit short, and sorry for the long wait. With work, school and the holidays it's been a crazy month. But I hope you keep reading and as always keep reviewing! More to come so stayed tuned.<p> 


	14. Chapter 14: A Walk in the Park

Chapter Fourteen: A Walk in the Park

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Harry Potter_ or J.K. Rowling.

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><p>Hermione put Crissy down to play in her playpen when Draco walked back into the living room. Clearly he finished with his shower, because he was once again shirtless, wearing only a pair of jeans that hung low on his hips. The cloth bandaged was bundled up in his hand instead of being wrapped around his torso exposing his bruised ribs, which fortunately were not as dark and angry looking as they were the night before.<p>

"I'm reading for you to rub me down and wrap me up now. Where do you want me?"

She was about to tell him to sit down on the sofa since they were already in the living room and his jar of healing ointment sat on the coffee table. But then she remembered what happened in that very spot last night after she 'rubbed him down' and how he kissed her and then she…well, she practically threw herself at him and actually asked him to touch…Oh God!

After all of the stress with taking Crissy to the healers late into the night she had completely forgot about that. If they didn't get interrupted by Crissy how far would she have gone with him? Her face felt like it had burst into flames as she continued to stare at the sofa, not able to take her eyes off it. She didn't even notice when Draco walked over to her and stood in front of her.

"Are you okay? Your face became really flushed all of a sudden." He put his palm against her cheek as he looked into her eyes, concern etched on his face.

"I'm…I'm fine." She said clearing her throat and looking away from the sofa.

"You're not feeling nauseous or anything are you?" Draco asked still looking at her with concern.

She shook her head. "Why don't you go have a seat at the dining table and I'll be there in a second." She told him looking anywhere but him of the blasted sofa.

"Why can't we just do it on the sofa?"

"What?" she gasped getting a panicky feeling inside her chest. Did he actually ask if they could do IT on the sofa?

"Well I'm just thinking it would be more comfortable then the dining table." He told her giving her a wink.

Her eyes widened, did he actually think she was suggesting doing it on the table? She took a deep breath, okay she needed to get her bearings and gather her thoughts.

"Draco…I think we need to slow down a bit. I know last night I was a bit…um forward. But I'm not normally like that. I'm sorry if I led you on last night, but I'm not ready to go that far in our relationship. And besides I think it would be extremely inappropriate to um, do such a think now, especially with Crissy in the room."

Draco shook his head. "Hermione that's not what I was talking about." He told her looking confused and amused at the same time.

"It's not? Then what were you talking about?"

He walked around the sofa to pick up the ointment. "I was talking about where you wanted me to sit so you could put this smelling goo on my back." He told her, obviously trying to fight back a smile.

She felt her face heat up again, only this time it was an inferno. How could she be so stupid, so daft? Of course he was talking about that, and not about…it. Oh Merlin, what a fool she was.

"Oh right." She said mortified as she covered her heated face with her hands.

Draco walked back up to her and gently took hold of her hands and pulled them away from her face.

"Don't be embarrassed." He said gently. She wouldn't look at him even though he was still standing in from of her holding her hands. "Did you really think I was talking about sex?" he asked her with a slight teasing tone.

"Yeah kind of." She grimaced, still not looking at him.

Draco let go of one of her hands and brought his fingers to her chin making her look at him. "Hermione if I'm talking about making love with you, you'd know it." He told her seriously.

She sucked in a shaking breath not knowing how to respond to that.

"About last night…" He started to say until she decided to cut him off.

"Can we please not…" But Draco put a finger to her lips stopping her.

"Let me finish." He said quietly then waited until she gave him the okay to go ahead. "You know I would never pressure you right?" She nodded. "And I would never do anything until you were ready or wanted to move forward."

She nodded again and let out the breath that she had been holding. "I'm sorry I'm being so difficult. I mean last night I practically threw myself at you and now I'm telling you I'm not ready to go that far…"

"Hermione it's okay, even though last night I definitely wasn't complaining, but we'll go slow, see where this leads…if you want to."

She nodded okay. "Okay thanks." She said quietly noticing that he only stood a couple of inches away and his hand dropped down to caress the side of her neck, while his fingers played with a couple stray curls that escaped her clip.

Her gazed fell to his lips which were parted. For a guy he had really nice lips, slightly full without being feminine and petal soft which she knew from previous encounters.

"Okay good." He murmured in a husky tone as his gaze fell to her lips as well, but then quickly took a step back; breaking whatever spell that had come over them. He held up the jar of ointment in front of her face. "Where do you want me?"

She cleared her throat. "The sofa's fine."

She watched him as he walked around the sofa and sat down. She was such a hypocrite, she kept saying she wanted to take things slow and that she wasn't ready. But at this moment she really wished she hadn't said anything at all and she really, really wished that he would have forgotten everything she said as well and kissed her.

Draco tried his best not to move or even glance over at Hermione or thinking about the way her small slender fingers felt on his bare skin as she rubbed the ointment over his back and battered ribs. Thank Merlin for small favors with Crissy in her playpen completely oblivious to them as she played with her stuffed dragon, but acted as a miniature chaperone regardless. If it wasn't for her then he was afraid he would be the one throwing himself at Hermione.

But he couldn't do that anyway, because Hermione told him she wasn't ready and he needed to gain her trust so he could convince her to stay in this time with him. And right now was not a good time to recall what happened last night after she finished dressing his wounds and how good she tasted when he kissed her, and how good she felt in his arms and in his hands when he touched her.

"Okay done." Hermione said almost too cheery breaking him out of his lust filled daze.

He stayed seated on the sofa, afraid he might embarrass himself if he stood up now. He watched as she got up and walked over to Crissy and bent over and picked her up.

"I was thinking about taking Crissy to the park today. Do you want to come?" She asked him innocently completely unaware of how badly he wanted to take her right now.

He cleared his throat which had suddenly become very dry. "Sure."

Hermione's eyebrows bunched up together in concern. "Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

He shook his head. "Nope I'm fine." He was in pain, but not the kind she was thinking about, if only she knew.

She nodded slowly. "Okay." Then adjusted Crissy so she sat higher on her hip. "Well I'm going to go get Crissy ready. You should probably put a shirt on now." She told him blushing then promptly walked out of the room.

When he came back into the room after he finished getting dressed he noticed Hermione had Crissy dressed and ready to go. She looked up at him while packing Crissy's bag full of necessities incase Crissy became hungry, thirsty, dirty, wet, whatever…you never knew with this little one.

"Ready?"

He nodded. "Ready whenever you are."

"Yep, just give me one second," she packed one last bottle of juice in the bag. "Okay ready."

She grabbed the bag and he went and got Crissy, then followed her out of the door that led to where the automobiles were parked. He walked towards the red 'minivan' as Hermione called it and opened the side door to put Crissy in her special seat.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him as she opened the back hatch on the vehicle.

"Um I'm strapping Crissy in."

"Oh we're not taking the van." She told him, Crissy looked up at him with big her big brown eyes so much like her mother's as if to tell him 'duh.'

"We're not?" he asked looking over to the other vehicle, the black sexier looking one.

Hermione followed his gaze and smirked. "We're not taking that either." She told him pulling out the baby stroller from the back and popping it together.

"Then what are we doing, I thought we were going to the park?"

She walked up to him and took Crissy and put her in the stroller. "We are and we're going to walk there."

"Walk there?"

He must have had some kind of worried expression on his face, because Hermione rolled her eyes at him and said, "relax it's just down the street. It's not far."

They made their way down the road towards the park, enjoying the nice weather. All the awkward tension from before gone as they walked in a comfortable silence that fell between them which Crissy cheerfully mumbled random nothings that only she could understand.

He still needed to figure out a way to convince her to stay in this time. He needed to get her to trust him, more then she already did and care about him. Maybe if he tried to court her, she would be more willing to stay? Okay that sounded stupid even to him, but any little thing could help. If only he could make them stay until the baby was born then she would have to stay, because there was no way she would leave the baby behind.

This was all beginning to sound sneaky and selfish, but he was a Slytherin, it's what he's good at. Maybe he could convince her that he would help her with the potion, but then forget, "accidentally" of course, to leave one ingredient out or slightly alter it without her knowing so the potion doesn't work and won't send them back…Of course that could be dangerous for both of them. Maybe he should just focus on getting her to trust him first and then work on all the little details later.

"Are you okay? Are your ribs hurting you?" Hermione asked him, breaking through his thoughts.

"No why?"

She shrugged, "you just look like you were in pain or you were concentrating really hard on something."

"Nope, I'm fine…do you want to go out with me…for dinner, tonight?" Yeah that was smooth, he thought.

"Are you already sick of my cooking?" she teased.

"Is that a trick question?" He teased back.

She laughed. "Sure why not. It would be nice to get out of the house for one night."

"Where do would you like to go?" he asked her.

"Mmm somewhere Chinese…no Mexican or maybe Indian…no wait, Chinese definitely." She told him looking uncertain.

He chuckled at her expression. "Are you sure about that?"

"No because I really want tacos with extra jalapenos and salsa, but I also really want fried rice with eggrolls…lots of eggrolls. Why can't they make a restaurant where they combine Chinese and Mexican foods together, like a Chinese-Mexican fusion cuisine? Merlin I'm starving." She told him grabbing a hold of her stomach as it growling loudly.

He laughed even harder. "Don't you have a stash of pickles packed in Crissy's bag or something?"

"Sadly no." She told him frowning. "But I don't have granola bars and some biscuits." She unzipped Crissy diaper bag and pulled out a bag of chocolate biscuits and took a couple then handed him the back to take some. "Mmm better…but I still want tacos." She told him after eating her handful of biscuits.

They finally got to the park which really was right at the end of the street. It was just a small area with equipment for children to play in, and a couple of benches and picnic tables surrounded by tall lush trees and an abundance of blooming flowers everywhere. There was even a small pond with a family of ducks who took residence in it. There was an elderly couple sitting on one of the benches watching the ducks swim about, but other than them, they had the park to themselves.

Turns out Crissy loves the swings, there was even a special swing for her to sit in without falling off it. The higher he pushed her the louder she squealed. Hermione stood in front of them taking pictures of Crissy with her muggle camera and cheering on Crissy as she swung back and forth. It sounded ridiculous, but he was actually having a good time, watching his daughter having a blast on something so simple as a swing. Her gummy smiles and high pitched squeals were infectious and he couldn't help but smile and laugh back at her happiness. Even Hermione joined in and sat in the swing next to Crissy and started swinging herself.

After all the excitement at the swings they sat on one of the benches by the duck pond and fed the ducks old bread crumbs that Hermione packed in her bag. And then after a quick snack they headed back home.

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><p>"I can't believe you encouraged her to keep saying that." Hermione kept telling him as they walking into their kitchen after they got back from the park.<p>

"For the record, I never told her to say anything. She was the one who said the word and then kept repeating it." He told her.

"Yeah because you kept laughing every time she said it and she thought she was doing funning so she kept saying it. She's just a baby, she didn't know any better. And now because of you she will refer to ducks as S.U.C.K.S" Hermione told him spelling out the work 'suck' so Crissy wouldn't repeat it.

He rolled his eyes at Hermione who was clearly overacting. "It's not like it's a curse work or anything…it could be worse, much worse. And she will eventually learn that duck starts with a 'd' and not an 's'."

"It's still inappropriate that she says that word. It implies negativity. Children her age are very impressionable and she will pick up everything we say and do. So we just have to be more careful about what we say around her. And no more laughing every time she says something like that again."

He held up his hands at her. "I'll try not to next time. But you have to admit it was kind of adorable when she did that."

"The couple who were sitting on the bench next to us certainly didn't think it was adorable. They looked at us like we were horrible parents."

"Who cares what they think of us. They don't know us and we don't know them. We've only been at this parenting thing for a little over a week now. We can't be expected to get everything perfect. It's not the end of the world and like I told you earlier it could have been much worse."

"Your right it could have been worse. But that still doesn't mean I'm okay with it."

"Let's just agree to disagree. And besides we still ended up having a good time at the park. Let's not ruin it by fighting."

"We did have a good time and other then the punctuation issue, Crissy really did enjoy feeding the ducks."

He smiled at the memory. "Speaking of Crissy. I think she's about to pass out, so I'm going to go ahead and put her down for her nap." He looked down at the little girl in his arms who was resting her head on his shoulder as she watched the two of them with sleepy eyes.

Hermione walked up to them and leaned in and kissed Crissy on the cheek then ran a hand through her curls. "Okay while you do that, I'm going to grab something to eat." She told him as she walked to the refrigerator.

"You're still hungry?"

"Mmmhmm." He heard her murmur as she had her head buried in the refrigerator looking for something to eat.

Draco walked into the living room after putting Crissy down for her nap to see Hermione sitting in the middle of the sofa, sideways with her feet propped up on the back of the sofa with a pillow supporting her back. It looked like a very odd position but she looked comfortable there reading a book and eating her ever present pickles. He walked over to her and sat down on the other side of the sofa next to her. He already had his next plan formed in his head on how he was going to charm her and attempt to gain her trust.

"Did you get Crissy to fall asleep okay?" she asked him, not taking her eyes off the book she was reading.

"Yep, she went down fine. Um do you by chance want to go for a ride?"

"A ride? To where?"

He shrugged. "Anywhere. We don't have to go far, maybe around the neighborhood for a bit."

"You want to drive around the neighborhood?"

"No not drive, fly."

"You want to go flying?" she put her book down and turned so she could look at him. "But you're not allowed to fly. Not for a couple of days at least."

"Which is why I was hoping you could be the one doing the flying and I'll ride along."

"But I can't fly, I…I don't really know how. I mean I know the basic fundamentals in case of an emergency but that's it."

"So I'll teach you."

"I don't know Draco."

"Don't tell me you're still scared of flying? The other night you loved it."

"Yeah but that was when I was just riding along, not doing the actual flying."

"It's not that much different, you just have a bit more control over the broom then you do when you're riding along. Please, it will just be for an half an hour or so."

"You want to go now? But you just put Crissy down for her nap. Who is going to be here to watch over her?"

"Ziggy." He watched as Hermione chewed on her lower lip thinking it over. "Okay but just for an half an hour and I'm not going to go too fast or too high. And if I don't like it we're coming down."

"Deal." He told her grinning from ear to ear.

She shook her head. "You can't go for one day without getting on a broom can you?"

He just smiled at her.

Draco got his broom prepared and waited for Hermione to finish talking to Ziggy and come out and join him. He somehow managed to go for most of the day keeping his hands to himself and not touching her except for when she had to put the ointment on his side…and when he made her kiss him this morning before they got the news from Candlewick, which already seemed like ages ago when that happened. Now with this he would be able to be close to her in an intimate setting or at least he was going to do his best to make it intimate, but not too much to scare her off.

He wanted to gain her trust and at the same time do his best to seduce her as well. He watched as she came out the back door and into the backyard where he was. He noticed that she put her hair back into a single braid that hung down her back instead of the usual clip that held all of her hair in place.

Once she walked up to him she let out a shaky breath. "I can't believe you talked me into doing this."

"You'll have fun trust me." She just rolled her eyes at him. "You changed your hair." He said casually.

"Oh." She reached up and pushed stray curl from her eyes. "I just thought it would be easier to manage and it wouldn't be flying all over the place."

The curl she just pushed back fell back into her eyes, so he reached out and tuck it behind her ear, then let his fingers linger there longer than necessary. "I like it like that."

Her cheeks blushed a rosy pink. "Okay." She murmured quietly.

"Alright let's do this." He told her positioning the broom so they could mount it.

She let out another deep breath. "Yeah okay." Then swung her leg over the broom and at down.

He followed her and sat behind her wrapping his arms around her belly. She sucked in a surprised gasp as he pulled himself closer to her back so his thighs hugged the back of hers; his lips brushed the crook of her neck.

"Okay put your hands on the top of the broom handle; your left hand should go in front of your right.

And make sure to leave a little space in between so you can have more control of your movements on the broom." He directed.

She did as she was told.

"Okay good and whatever you do, don't let go." He stroked his thumbs over her belly and up along her ribs and higher still but not quite where he really wanted to go. "What did I say?"

"Don't let go." She whispered.

He told her where to put her feet. Taking one hand, while the other still stroked her belly he helped set her foot in the proper position on the foot petal, then switched and did the same to the other side. She must have felt unbalanced, because she sat up and took her right hand off the broom and reached back and grabbed hold of his thigh to steady herself.

He directed her hand back to the handle. "You have to hold on no matter what happens." He whispered in her ear.

He felt her shiver and he noticed goosebumps rise up on her skin and he doubted it was from the slight breeze in the air. She tried to turn her head to look at him, but he held her still.

"Always face forward; you want to keep your eyes on where you're going." He slid his hands up her stomach, up and down until he felt her shiver again and felt her take in a shaky breath.

"Draco…" She broke off with a gasp as his fingers brushed the undersides of her breasts.

"When you want to turn, you're going to shift your body to the right or left, guiding your broom with your right hand. The same goes for whether you want to go up on down. Slightly pull up on your broom to go higher or aim it down to go lower. Did you get all of that?"

She nodded, "shift my body."

He made another pass with his thumbs, higher now and then back down. She shivered again and leaned into his touch. Merlin, if he kept this up even he might not be able to fly. Even the smell of her hair was turning him on and every time she shivered against his touch it just encouraged him even more.

"When you're up in the air you want to lean forward with your body to go forward. The more you lean, the faster you will go."

Somehow during his instructions his hands managed to sneak under her shirt and were now stroking the skin of her belly.

"Draco?"

"Yeah." His voice sounded huskier then it had before.

"I'm having a really hard time concentrating." He shifted against her and she pressed back and gasped when she felt his arousal against her back. "I guess I'm not the only one. "She laughed.

Merlin he was beginning to love the sound of her laugh.

"I can't fly when you do that." She murmured.

"The talking or touching?"

"Both…so how do I get up in the air?"

"You just kick off the ground and point the broom in the direction you want to go."

"Okay and how do I stop?"

"Just sit up and slightly pull the tip of the broom up." He pulled his hands from beneath her shirt and wrapped his arms around her. "Ready?"

She let out a shaky breath. "Yeah I think so." She positioned herself in the way he showed her and he leaned into her back prepared for the takeoff. She glanced back at him. "Hold on and don't let go."

"I won't." He told her and with that she kicked off the ground.

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><p>AN: I hope you like this chapter, more exciting stuff to come. And as always keep reading and reviewing!<p> 


	15. Chapter 15: The Date

Chapter Fifteen: The Date

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from _Harry Potter_ or from J.K. Rowling

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><p>"You're never going to ride a broom again are you?" Draco asked Hermione as they walked back towards their house.<p>

"Well I'm definitely not going to fly one ever again that's for certain." She told him crossing her arms over her chest to keep her hands from trembling.

"Come on, you did great, especially for your first time. It wasn't that bad."

"Not that bad! You failed to tell me how to land properly; all you said was point the tip of the broom towards the ground."

"And then gently level it out." He finished for her. "And it would have been fine if you didn't take your hands off the broom handle."

"And I told you I couldn't concentrate when you…touched me like that. It was because of you that I got distracted and lost control." She told him blushing.

"I wouldn't have let us crash, we would have been fine."

"Humph." She sighed and slaked into the house leaving him to trail in behind her.

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting kind of hungry. So why don't you go ahead and change and then we can go out to dinner." He told her retreating form.

She turned around and faced him once again. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" She asked him frowning, with her hands on her hips.

He took in her adorably disheveled form, her old worn jeans ripped slightly at one knee, her shirt which looked like it could have been two sizes too big was wrinkled and halfway un-tucked from the waist. Her hair looked like she had a fight with a windstorm and lost.

"Um…nothing." He told her trying not to smile. "I just thought since we're going out that you might want to freshen up a bit." He watched as she looked down at herself and grimaced at her appearance.

"Maybe your right." She mumbled. "We're not going anywhere fancy are we? Cause I really don't feel like putting on a dress."

He shook his head. "Nope not fancy. Wear whatever you like."

"Okay just give me 15 minutes or so and I'll be ready."

Hermione walked to the bedroom still huffing and puffing. She wanted to go to dinner as she was, just to annoy him since he tricked her into flying. Ugh how could she be so stupid not to ask how to land the damn thing? Damn him and his wandering hands, and damn her body for liking it.

She took one look at herself and shuddered. She looked like something her old cat Crookshanks used to cough up. On second thought, she should probably change or at least do something with her hair. About 20 minutes later she walked back into the living room wearing black leggings and a sapphire tunic top and black ballet flats. She managed to get her hair somewhat under control and decided to leave it down.

She wanted to stay mad at Draco, but she was really hungry, and she really didn't want to attempt to cook again. She found Draco in the kitchen talking to Ziggy. He of course didn't need to change, because unlike her, he was cool under pressure, and probably didn't sweat through all of his clothes like she did. And his hair was short enough, that the wind just made it look like it was professionally styled, no matter which direction it seemed to be sticking up.

The two of them were whispering to each other, and she couldn't hear what they were saying, and when she walked up to them they abruptly stopped and turned to look at her.

"Ready?" Draco asked her.

"Yeah." She replied slowly, narrowing her eyes at him, because he was obviously hiding something.

"What were you two talking about?" She asked him.

"Nothing." He said looking sheepish. "Just giving instructions for Crissy."

"She's not coming with us?"

"No. Is that okay?"

"Yeah I guess."

For some reason she was surprised that Draco told her that they weren't taking Crissy with them to dinner. And without Crissy there, it was just going to be the two of them, alone, eating dinner together. Almost as if it were a date. But that couldn't be it. They were just two people, friends, who occasionally kiss, and who are stuck together in an odd situation and neither one of them could cook very well. So therefore, they were just going to go out and get a decent meal together. That's all. Oh who was she kidding, it probably was a date, and she is too much of a wimp to flat out and ask him about it.

"Okay, well everything is all set, are you ready to get going?" Draco asked her, acting all mysterious again.

She looked from him to Ziggy, who kept her eyes averted away from her, and then back to him. "Yeah let me just go say good bye to Crissy before we go."

Once the two of them finished saying goodnight to Crissy, Draco grabbed ahold of her elbow and apparated the two of them out of their house, before she got a chance to ask him where they were going. They landed with a pop behind some random building.

"Where are we going?" She finally managed to ask him as they walked around to where the actual street was.

"It's a surprise." He told her.

Well that didn't help at all, she thought. "So what were you and Ziggy really talking about?"

"Nothing." He shrugged as they started walking down the street together in some unknown direction.

"For some reason I really doubt that." He reached down and took hold of her hand and she entwined her fingers with his without seconds thought.

"It's not important."

"If it's not important, then why won't you just tell me?" She pushed further.

He just smiled down at her, not commenting on it.

"Does it have something to do with where we're going for dinner?"

"You just won't give up will you?"

She shrugged. "Well?"

He laughed. "Relax you'll see for yourself, we're almost there."

"Do you even know where we are?"

"Um not really, but according to Ziggy we're close. I believe it's right up here around the corner."

They walked up to the corner and were met by a large wooden gate. "Is this it?" She asked him.

The gate was so tall and wide, that she couldn't see over it, around it or through it. She watched as Draco took his wand out and unlocked the gate and opened it up a crack and peeked inside.

"Okay, close your eyes."

"Why?" She asked him, trying to look through the opening of the gate.

"Just do it." She crooked an eyebrow at him. "Please." He added smiling.

She let out a sigh and did as he asked.

"Okay, no peeking." He told her as he guided her through the opening of the gate.

She heard him shut the gate behind them and whispered a spell which sounded like a warding spell.

"Can I open them now?" she asked feeling slightly venerable, knowing he had his wand out and at the ready, and here she was with her eyes shut and defenseless against any attack or hex he throws her way. But he wouldn't do that to her, not now at least…would he?

"Okay, open your eyes."

She opened them and was speechless. They were in some kind of courtyard with trees, and all kinds of plants and flowers, that covered the entire place. White and red rose bushes everywhere, and creeping ivy climbed up against the fenced gate and up along a brick wall of a random building. Tinkling fairy lights were wrapped around every bush and branch. Glowing lanterns of all shapes and colors hung from every branch on the trees, making the entire place look like some kind of magical botanical fairy wonderland. A small cobblestone pathway ran down the center of the courtyard and circled around a giant fountain with flowing water, which was lit from underneath, making the water glow. Next to it was a small wrought iron table set for two and was surrounded by dripping candles.

"Wow," was all she managed to say as she took everything in.

"Do you like it?" Draco asked her, looking a bit uncertain.

She turned to him, "Draco, it's so beautiful. What is this place?"

"It's some kind of public garden that people can come by and walk through during the day or something like that."

"Wow," she whispered still in awe by the beauty of it.

"Does it look familiar at all you?"

"No…should it?" She asked him confused.

"Well apparently this is where I proposed to you."

"How could you possibly know something like that?"

"I saw a picture of it in one of those scrapbooks you made and I asked Ziggy about it." He told her looking sheepish again like he was embarrassed or something.

"Hmm, good choice." She smirked at him.

Dear Merlin, she prayed to whoever was listening that he wasn't planning on doing some huge romantic gesture right now, she wasn't entirely sure how much more she could handle at this moment.

"So are you hungry?"

"Yes starving." She watched him walk over to the table and pulled out a chair, waiting for her to follow him.

"Wait, we're eating here?"

"Yeah, is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine, but are we allowed to?"

"Sure why not? But I put a ward up just in case, so if any one comes in here it will look like it's empty."

"So we're breaking the rules then?"

He shrugged, "the sign says 'open to the public.'"

She shook her head smiling and sat down in the seat he pulled out for her. As soon as they sat down the food appeared, each plate coved with sliver domes. He uncovered the various plates that were in the center of the tables.

"Tacos!" she squealed. "You remembered."

"Yeah well I try not to disappoint." He chuckled at her delight.

Her mouth started watering at the sight of the feast before her; flour tortillas that were still warm, an abundance of cheese, salsa, jalapenos, and all the other fixings and a choice of beef or chicken.

"So this is what you were talking to Ziggy about."

He shrugged, "She might have had a hand in all of this. Okay, so she did all of this and got it ready for us."

"I really hope we're paying her well for everything she's done for us."

"Oh I have no doubt in my mind that we are. Because I know you wouldn't allow it any other way."

"Yeah, well maybe we should double whatever it is that we are paying her, for everything she's done for us thus far."

"If that's what you want."

She nodded.

They ate in silence, enjoying the food and scenery, until Draco looked up at her. "So, I was thinking about how we'll be able to get the ingredients for the potion Candlewick gave us…"

"But I thought…I thought you didn't want anything to do with it. I thought you wanted to stay here." She interrupted before thinking better of it.

"I do, but I told you, I will still help you with the potion. And since it takes four months to make, we'll still have time to change our minds when the time comes."

Hermione nodded, not liking that they were discussing this now, ruining a nice evening and dinner. "Okay, so what did you come up with?"

"I think I know where we can get most of the ingredients, though you probably won't like it and it will be tricky."

"Knockturn Alley." She whispered in agreement.

He nodded. "Yeah, and most likely there's a good chance we'll be recognized, so here's where it could get tricky. Do you think you could brew up some Polyjuice Potion? I've heard it's one of your specialties." He smirked.

"I've been known to make it a few times, here and there." She shrugged and smirked back at him. "I'll have to see what kind of ingredients we have at home. I noticed a cupboard full of them in the study the other day, along with a cauldron. The only think is it takes a month to make it, which will make it five months total before we can get back."

"Are you okay with that?" He asked her.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess I'll have to be."

"We'll also have to find someone who is unrecognizable in the magical world."

"So we'll have to find two random muggles then?"

"No just one."

"One…why?"

"Because, you're not going. It's too dangerous."

"I've been in far worse situations then venturing into Knockturn Alley." She started to get angry.

"I'm talking about the Polyjuice Potion. You're pregnant, and who knows what kind of effects it could do to you or the baby. I don't want to risk it."

Her shoulders slumped, she felt defeated. He didn't even want to go back; he said so just this morning. He was only doing this to make her happy, probably trying to scare her into not wanting to go back all together. But he was right; it could be dangerous for the baby, if she wasn't careful.

"Listen I don't want to argue about this. Let's just enjoy the rest of the evening." He put a brown paper bag on the table in front of her. "I had Ziggy add this as well to the menu." She eyed the bag suspiciously. "Go on, open it."

She grabbed the bag and opened it, then peered inside. "Eggrolls." She smiled slightly at him. "You really were listening when I told you want I wanted to eat." She took one out of the bag and bit into it, closing her eyes to savor the taste. "Mmmm," was all she could say as she finished it in three bites.

Draco chuckled at her. "I can't believe you're still hungry after all of that." She shrugged and took another one out of the bag. "Do you want to walk around a bit." He asked her.

"Sure."

They cleaned up their dinner and disposed of it properly. But she kept the bag of eggrolls to snack on later. They walked back on to the street and Draco took her hand again and entwined his fingers with hers, just like he did before they got to the garden. His hand felt warm and strong, comforting as it circled around her smaller one.

"What's going on over there?" he pointed over towards a park, where people were gathering around carrying blankets and lawn chairs.

She was focusing so much on the way his hand felt in hers, that she hadn't been paying attention to where they were going. She noticed a giant white screen that had been set up in the middle of the park.

"I think it's one of those movies in the park things. I've always heard of them, but I've never been to one before."

"A what?"

"A movie in the park. It's where the community sets up a movie screen and they play movies at night. And anyone can come and watch. Come on lets go see what's playing." She tugged on his hand until they were following the crowd towards the giant screen.

They found a fallen tree trunk towards the back and sat down. They must have gotten there just in time, because shortly after they arrived the crowd fell silent and the movie started. It was the classic musical, _My Fair Lady_. She remembered watching it a few times growing up. Her mother loved all the classic musicals. The air grew chilly and Draco must have noticed the goosebumps rise up on her arms, because he wrapped an arm around her back and pulled her closer to him, sharing his body heat.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Why do they keep randomly breaking out into sound. It doesn't make any sense. What's the purpose of it? And how is it that everyone else in the movie seems to know exactly what lyrics are when one of the characters decides to burst out into song?" He asked her.

She thought he was joking, but when she turned to look at him she noticed he was being serious. She chuckled. "It's what makes it entertaining. It's why they call these types of movies, musicals."

He nodded, but didn't look very convinced. Halfway through the movie she couldn't stop yawning and once her head tilted to the side to rest on Draco's shoulder, she found that she was having a difficult time trying to keep her eyes open.

"Tired?" he asked her.

She nodded lazily against his shoulder. "I'm about to fall asleep."

"Are you ready to go home or do you want to wait until the movies over?"

"Hmmm, home."

They quietly left the park, once again hand in hand and made their way back to where they apparated in. She pulled out her last eggroll and began to munch on it. That was five eggrolls in total, which she consumed. Draco only had one. But he told her that he didn't mind. She should have felt like a pig, but right now she could care less.

They made their way to the back of the building and apparated home. Once they arrived back in their kitchen, Hermione knew something wasn't right. And she now realized eating that last eggroll was a big mistake. Without a word she ran over to the sink and threw up. She heard Draco rummaging around in the cabinets, but she didn't lift her head to look.

Draco sat a glass of water down next to her, one he must have filled using his want, since she was currently occupying the sink. He helped push her hair out of her face and handed her the glass.

"You okay?"

She took a small sip. "Note to self don't eat eggrolls before you apparate."

He chuckled, "I'll keep that in mind, but really are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah I'm not any worse than all the other times I've gotten sick." She shook her head, "Not the most graceful way to end a date is it?" She blushed.

"Who said this was a date?"

She was taken aback at that. "I thought…I mean…since…" she trailed off when he smiled at her.

"I'm kidding. But since we brought it up, does this mean I'll get a goodnight kiss?" He stepped closer to her.

Her eyes darted to the sink and then back to him. "Uh…do mind if we take a rein check on that, at least until after I brush my teeth about ten times?"

"Yeah that's probably best." He chuckled.

* * *

><p>AN: So sorry for the horribly long wait. I've been crazy busy and haven't had time to write. But don't worry I have no intention of abandoning this story, and there is definitley more to come. But thank you for all you patience and reviews and hope you enjoyed this chapter and please keep reading and reviewing. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.<p> 


	16. Chapter 16: A Girl's Day Out

Chapter Sixteen: A Girl's Day Out

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling

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><p>Hermione groggily woke up to a ringing sound coming from her side of the bed. She opened her eyes and peered over at Draco, who was still sound asleep, lying on his stomach. Then turned her head to the side and realized the ringing noise was coming from the telephone, sitting on her bedside table. She almost forgot they even had a phone in the house at all, since no one has called or used it once, since they've gotten here.<p>

She glanced over at the clock, ugh 2:00am, who the bloody hell would be calling at two in the morning? Unless it was an emergency, what if something bad happened? Heart pounding, she reached for the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello darling."

"Mum?...What's wrong…is dad…" She sat up in bed beginning to panic.

"Oh nothing's wrong, your father's fine as always. I'm just calling to say hello and check in."

Hermione let out a sigh of relief. "What do you mean just calling to say hello?"

"What are you talking about? I can't call my own daughter to say hello?"

"No, that's not what I meant." She rubbed sleep from her eyes. "It's just that it's two o'clock in the morning. What on earth are you doing up so late…or uh early. And how could you possibly think I'd be up this early?" she asked her mother starting to get cranky; it was too early to concentrate on having a conversation.

"Oh dear me, we've been here so long we practically feel native. I completely forgot about the time. Of course it's an inconvenient time to be calling right now."

"Wait, where are you exactly?"

"What's going on?" Draco mumbled beside her, she waved him off, thinking he'd go back to sleep, but he sat up instead looking at her. "What's wrong?" He mouthed silently to her.

"Oh honey, we're still in Florida of course."

"Florida? What on earth are you doing there?"

"Oh Hermione you know why. We've been over this; your father's health hasn't been that great, mainly due to stress and overworking. And his doctor suggested he should take a break, perhaps even retire. And you remember Cynthia Jones, who lived down the street from us? Well she and her husband Roger have a winter home in Southern Florida; they live right along the west coast and belong to this posh little country club with three different golf courses. Well anyway, they heard about your father's health and invited us to stay in their Florida home for a few weeks, and we've been here ever since. And well, so we talked to a realtor and decided to join the club, officially. We even bought this adorable three bedroom condo."

"Mum, what are you talking about?" Her sleepy brain didn't understand her mother's words, it sounded as if they bought a condo there.

"We've decided to stay, permanently, and become true Floridians."

"But what about the business? Who's going to take over dad's practice?"

"Thomas is. Your father and I have talked about it and decided he was best suited. Besides, he's work alongside your father for almost 15 years now. It's going to be in good hands and besides your father and I are ready for retirement, it's time."

"So you're now coming back at all?"

"Oh honey of course we'll come back and visit every now and then. And we'll have to come back eventually to pack up the house and put it on the market. And speaking of that, if you have any free time you should go to the house and start going through your old bedroom and take what you want, box up what you want to put in storage and get rid of anything you don't want. "

She ran a hand over her face as she listened to her mother talk about living all the way across, and got a pang of homesickness in her heart. "Are you sure this is what you and dad really want to do?"

"Of course it is honey. We haven't been happier. Once you and Draco come down for a visit, you'll see for yourself that this is paradise. You can go to the beach or lay out by the pool…did I mention that, we have our very own pool, that's all ours in the backyard. And your father can teach Draco to play golf, it will be a blast. But enough about us, what about you? How is Crissy?"

"She's doing really good actually. She's talking a little more each day, though it's mostly gibberish ramblings. And she stood up and walked a few steps all on her own."

"Oh that's wonderful, soon she'll be running around the house nonstop and you won't be able to get her to sit still. How are you doing? Is the morning sickness still bothering you?"

"Yeah, I have good and bad days, but I think it's starting to subside a bit."

"And have you found out any news on the new little one? Like the gender perhaps."

Hermione smiled, "Yeah we found out a couple of days ago."

"Well don't keep me in suspense; are we going to have another granddaughter or a grandson?"

"It's a boy." She could hear her mother squeal in the background.

"Oh how wonderful. Oh honey I'm so happy for you and Draco. Wait until I tell your father, he'll be so thrilled. Oh another grandbaby, how exciting."

"Thanks, mum, we're really excited too."

"Well I'll let you get back to sleep, think about what I said about going through your old room. Tell Draco we said hello and give Crissy a big kiss from us."

"I will mum, tell dad I said hi."

"I will, I love you Hermione. We'll talk again soon."

"Love you too mum, it was good to hear from you." She hung up the phone and laid back against the pillows, her parents were moving to Florida, how weird was that?

"Is everything okay?" Draco asked her, rolling onto his side to look at her.

"Yeah that was just my mum."

"What did she want?"

"She called to tell me her and my dad are moving to Florida permanently to become true Floridians."

"I have no idea what that means, but it doesn't sound too bad."

"I know, it's just weird to wrap my head around. I mean they've lived in the same house since I was born and now they're moving half way around the world. And they want me to go to the house and start boxing everything up for them. I don't know, it's just a lot to take in."

"I'm sure everything will work out. I mean as long as their happy right?" He told her already falling back asleep, but after he reached out and tugged her body closer to him until she was flush up against his body.

"Right." She whispered, then laid her head against his shoulder and fell back asleep within seconds.

* * *

><p>The next morning she got up earlier than usual, because her stomach was rumbling, pleading for food. Draco was still asleep, lying on his back with one arm flung over his head, when she left the bedroom. Crissy too was still asleep, so she took the precious few minutes that she had to herself and made a quick breakfast of cereal and pickles, on the side of course.<p>

For some reason she was still hung up on the fact that her parents were living thousands of miles away on a completely different continent. But then again she could just add it to the growing list of everything else she's been stressing about, like the whole reason they're here and how they're going to get back, if they can get back. There are just too many things to think about, she didn't know which one to tackle first.

But one thing that has been bothering her lately is that if she and Draco did decide to stay in this time permanently, what would happen to them. Would they stay together, pretending to be this happily married couple and family? Or do they go their separate ways and start new lives with other people while sharing the kids with each other? Or would they truly become a real family, made from love?

She hadn't discussed this with Draco yet, and if she were being honest with herself, she was a bit afraid to, thinking he might vote for the option of going their separate ways, instead of making it work. But at the same time, she didn't want to continue this sham of a marriage and pretend to be together. And even with time, could they truly learn to love each other? Sure, as of this moment she could admit that she did care for him and that she has feelings for him, but was it real or just out of fear of being in an unknown situation with each other, and right now they're just a comfort for one another, something or someone who is familiar and their sticking together because then they won't be alone in this.

"Are you going to eat that or continue to stare at it until it gets soggy?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice behind her, putting a hand to her chest to keep her heart from jumping out; she turned around and faced him. "I didn't know you were standing there."

"You seemed deep in thought and I didn't want to interrupt." He smirked hat her. "What's wrong, are you not hungry?"

She shook her head. "No I'm starving. I just have a lot on my mind I guess."

"Are you still upset that your parents are living in…uh where again?" he asked grabbing a bowl and pouring cereal into it.

"Florida. And no I'm not, if that's what they want to do, then who am I to stop them. I just feel bad that since we've been here I've not once thought about them or what they were up to, if they were even still around."

"We've had a lot going on in the past week and a half."

She nodded. "I know, I just feel like I've failed at being a good responsible daughter and I feel like they should have been one of the first people we contact since getting here."

"You haven't failed at being a good daughter. And besides if you did call them and explained what happen with everything, would they have understood?"

She shrugged. "For muggles they do know a fair amount about the magical world, because of me, but no they wouldn't understand. But what about your mother? Have you talked or heard anything from her since we've been here? I mean obviously your father is no longer in your life, but what about your mum, does she still…is she still a part of your life, are life?"

"I don't know, I mean I wouldn't imagine that she wouldn't accept us being together and I can't see her not being a part of Crissy's life. Why are you all of a sudden concerned about this?"

"I'm not, I mean not really. I'm just trying to get a better understanding of what's going on in our lives outside this house and the three of us. I mean you know me, I can't ever seem to turn my brain off." She chuckled taking a bite of her now soggy cereal.

She shouldn't have brought all of this up, she thought mentally kicking herself. She stiffened when she felt Draco's arm come around her from behind. With one hand he pushed aside her hair covering the back of her neck. She didn't know if she should stiffen even more or melt into his embrace, when she felt his warm lips touch the nape of her neck.

"Are you sure that's all that's bugging you?" he mumbled into her hair as he continued to explore the smooth skin of her neck with his lips.

All she could do was nod, since her tongue decided to stop working, making it difficult to form words. She closed her eyes as she gripped the edge of the countertop to keep her balance. Her bowl of cereal sat on the counter forgotten. She tilted her head as he moved his lips along the side of her throat.

"Is Crissy still sleeping?" she asked breathlessly as his hand roamed upward over her belly and up her ribs, then higher still.

"Mmmm."

His lips moved up along her throat until he hit that sweet tender spot just below her ear, she couldn't help but let a small moan escape her lips as he sucked her earlobe into his mouth.

"You know I never did get that kiss last night." He whispered in her ear, turning her around to face him.

The next thing she knew his lips were on hers and he was kissing her as if it was the last kiss either of them would ever experience again. Her hands tangled in his hair as he pulled her body closer to his. She locked her ankles around his waist as his tongue slipped between her lips and dueled with hers. She ran her hands across his jaw that was prickly with morning stubble, then down the warm hard planes of his chest. It was shocking how their passion could go from cool to flaming within seconds. It should have been terrifying, but instead it was intoxicating. She became completely consumed by him. Too quickly he finished the kiss and pulled away, resting his forehead against hers.

"Morning." He murmured and smiled down at her.

"Morning." She sighed feeling ridiculously happy.

"Morning." A perky female voice called out behind them.

Hermione shrieked as Draco tried to cover her with his body. It was only then; that she realized her somehow lifted her up onto the kitchen counter sometime during their intense snogging session, which is why she had her legs wrapped around his waist. And to top that off pajama shirt that she had on, had become mysteriously unbuttoned, down to her belly button. She had been so focused on his kiss, that she didn't even notice him unbutton her shirt, or maybe she did it, she wasn't entirely sure on that one. She made quick work at buttoning up as she peeked over his shoulder to see who was in their kitchen.

"I told you, we should have given them a heads up before we decided to drop by." Blaise muttered to Pansy. "Sorry mate, I would have warned you, but she insisted." Blaise told Draco, looking guilty and slightly embarrassed.

Pansy waved a dismissive hand at Blaise. "Just be grateful we dropped by now and not 30 seconds later when you two could've been up against the refrigerator with your pants around your ankles, shagging each other like bunny rabbits."

Draco cleared his throat, and if she wasn't mistaken, blushing, although she couldn't blame him, merlin knew her face was on fire from getting interrupted by Pansy and Blaise. "So what brings you two here to our lovely home, at this hour in the morning?" Draco asked them.

"I want to kidnap Hermione for the day and force her to help shop and do wedding things with me, while you and Blaise can watch Crissy and do manly things like talk about quidditch or how big your broomstick is, or whatever it is you talk about and do. I mean I'm sure Hermione here is going stir-crazy taking care of your whiny ass as your ribs heal anyway."

"You honestly think we sit around talking about how big our broomsticks are?" Blaise muttered to his fiancé.

Pansy shrugged. "I don't know what you males do during your guy time; anything guy related is all foreign to us females. Right Hermione?"

"Uh, sure." She responded trying to fight back a smile. "Um, well if you don't mind waiting a bit, I'll just go grab a quick shower and we'll get going." She told Pansy, and then turned to Draco. "Maybe you can go and get Crissy up?"

"Sure." He guided her out of the kitchen with a hand on the small of her back. "Make yourself comfortable, we'll be right back." Draco called over his shoulder to Pansy and Blaise.

"No worries take your time." Blaise called out.

"But not too much time." Pansy said after him.

Once they were out of ear shot from their unexpected guest, Hermione glanced over at Draco. "Maybe you and Blaise can come with us?"

He looked over at her. "Go with you? And do what?"

She shrugged, "Go shopping with us?"

He stopped in the middle of the hallway just outside their bedroom door. "Go shopping…with Pansy?" he shook his head, "Sorry, but no way."

"Why not?"

"Because shopping with Pansy can be complete and utter hell."

Hermione felt her face pale, great just what she wanted to hear. Draco must have noticed too.

"No, not in a bad way. It's just that she's the kind of women who can spend hours in just one store. Do you know how boring that can be?"

Great, still not the news she was hoping for, she thought as she walked into the bedroom. Draco followed in behind her, instead of going to Crissy's room.

Shutting the door behind him, he turned back to her. "What's really bothering you?" He asked her.

She shrugged. "Nothing."

He crossed his arms over his chest and continued to stare at her.

"What do you want me to say? I'm not exactly looking forward to spending the day alone with her."

Draco sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Is that what you're worried about? I've told you before, Pansy's harmless, more bark than bite. Besides you've spent time with her recently and you two seem to have hit it off fairly well."

"Yeah, but the first time you were there and so was Blaise. And the second time a whole group was there including Harry and Ron. And then there was the quidditch game."

"If it's a girls shopping day, then I'm sure the Weaslette will be joining you."

She put her hands on her hips. "Her name is Ginny." She smirked at him. "And no, I doubt it, since the doctor put her on bed rest, which means she has to stay off her feet as much as possible. Otherwise she could risk having the baby too early."

"Okay so she probably won't be joining you then." He chuckled and walked past her towards their closet. "Hermione, you'll be fine, it's just shopping. And besides you've handled Deatheaters, I'm sure if absolutely necessary you'll be able to defend yourself if need be. Or if you feel uncomfortable, just make up some excuse and come home."

She nodded. "Okay, okay your right."

"You know I absolutely love it when you say that." He smirked at her.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I'm just being ridiculous right now."

"Yes you are." He grinned at her. "Now go get in that shower before Pansy comes in here, wondering what's taking us so long."

Hermione came back out into the living room 10 minutes later after she took the fastest shower ever and magically blew dried her hair using her wand. She found Draco, who was now fully dressed, instead of strutting around shirtless, sitting on the sofa along with Blaise watching TV, while Pansy sat on the floor with Crissy in her lap, playing with one of her many toys. They all looked up when she walked in.

"Ready?" Pansy asked standing up and taking Crissy with her.

She nodded. "Yeah I guess so."

Draco and Blaise stood up too and Pansy handed Crissy over to Draco who took her into his arms.

Pansy clapped her hands excitedly. "Yeh, this is going to be so much fun. Are you excited Hermione?" she asked her.

Hermione tried to put on an excited looking smile. "You bet." She told her, and then glanced over at Draco who gave her a wink.

"Well what are we waiting for, let's get a move on, the shops won't stay open all day."

"Just try not to spend too much money, okay babe." Blaise told Pansy as he snagged an arm around her waist and pulled her up against him.

"No promises." Pansy replied back.

Blaise rolled his eyes at her and lowered his head, giving her an affectionate kiss on the lips. Hermione looked away, not wanting to spy on something so personal and passionate between them. She stood next to Draco a bit awkwardly as Blaise continued to snog Pansy in their living room.

"So…uh if you decided to go anywhere, make sure you take along Crissy's diaper bag, and make sure there are actually diapers in it, as well as on extra change of clothes, her hat, some snacks and bottles of juice or water, and make sure you take her blanket, oh and toys, and…"

"Okay Hermione, I get it, I'll make sure I'm prepared for anything and everything if we go anywhere."

"Okay just making sure. And it probably wouldn't hurt to take her stroller as well."

"Got it."

"And, no flying around. Even though your ribs are almost completely healed, the doctor said no flying for at least two days."

"Okay."

"And if Crissy is still feeling a little crummy from her chest cold, or if her nose is still runny, give her a little bit of the pepperup potion, but just a little bit."

"Okay Hermione I got it. Don't worry, everything will be fine."

"I love you baby."

Hermione and Draco both turned their heads back towards Pansy and Blaise.

"I love you too Pooky." Pansy told Blaise giggling.

Hermione bit her lip and snuck a glance over at Draco who was also looking at her. She smiled shyly at him, suddenly feeling bashful and leaned over and gave Crissy a kiss on the cheek, who was still being held by Draco and clung quietly to his shirt.

"Well bye." She told him quietly.

"Bye." He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Try to have fun okay," he whispered to her.

She nodded and cleared her throat, extremely aware of Pansy and Blaise watching them. "Call me if anything happens, my number is next to the refrigerator."

"Okay."

* * *

><p>Draco stood next to Blaise as they watched the girl's apparate out of their home. He tried not to feel guilty about letting Hermione go shopping alone with Pansy, even if they were rumored to be best friends now or are supposed to be anyway. And he knows that Pansy is harmless, especially at her worse. And he especially knows that Hermione could definitely hold her own against Pansy, if need be.<p>

That wasn't exactly what he is worried about. He just hoped that Hermione wouldn't be awkward and distant or anything what would give them away. Of course, what would it hurt to confine in Blaise and Pansy about their situation, they are his two best mates after all, and they would understand and help them even. He wouldn't exactly be keen on spending a day along with Potter or Weasley anytime soon, so he could imagine what Hermione would be going through.

"So I guess it's just us guys now." He told Blaise.

Crissy took that moment to reach up and pat his cheek, which probably felt rough against her baby soft fingertips, since he didn't shave yet that morning.

"And of course you, princess." He murmured to her, catching her hand in his before she could try to stick it up his nose.

"Again, I'm really sorry mate, about popping in on you guys like this. Especially since you two were in the middle of…well it just wasn't a good time." If Draco wasn't mistaken, Blaise was actually blushing. "You know Pansy, once she gets her mind on something, there's no stopping her."

"It's no big deal; we didn't have any plans today anyway. Although I'm not sure how Hermione will fare, spending all day with Pansy. I mean she's experiencing lots of morning sickness and sometimes it's a bit hard for her to control it."

Blaise chuckled. "Man, out of the two of us, I'd never expected you to be the first to have kids and actually enjoy it."

"What? I love it; it's the best thing that's happened to me. Sure it's hard, but it's worth it."

Blaise chuckled again. "Well, I highly doubt it, but hopefully Pansy won't ware Hermione out too much. She told me she wants to go dress shopping for the wedding." Blaise gave a mock shudder. "That's terrifying and exhausting in and of itself."

"Haha, that's why we have the women in charge, when it comes to planning weddings and such." He chuckled. "Well make yourself at home; I'm going to feed Crissy breakfast real quick, help yourself to whatever."

"If it's alright by you, I'll just sit here and watch some telly. I've seen that little munchkin eat and I'd rather not be within splattering distance."

Draco smiled to himself and set Crissy in her highchair, as Blaise settled himself on the sofa and started to flip through the channels. He headed towards the pantry to grab a jar of baby food, when his eye caught on the bowl of cereal Hermione prepared for herself earlier. He silently cursed himself, since he noticed it was left practically uneaten.

Shopping with Pansy on an empty stomach was bound to make her cranky, especially with her appetite. Of course it was his fault that it remained uneaten, since he distracted her, which he didn't plan on doing exactly. It was just that she looked so cute…no sexy with her face free of makeup, her cheeks flushed with sleep and her hair disheveled and of course her choice of sleepwear which practically swallowed her whole. He couldn't help himself.

He wondered just how far she would have let him go, if Blaise and Pansy didn't show up. Of course, there was probably no chance in that happening again anytime soon, since she looked mortified at being caught like that with him, in their kitchen. But he did know one thing for certain, if and when she let him touch her again, next times they wouldn't get interrupted, he'd make sure of that.

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><p>Hermione was positively exhausted; she had only spent three hours with Pansy and was about ready to keel over. So far they managed to look at china patterns, and after looking at about 20 different options, Pansy managed to pick out three for Blaise to look at and make the final decision. After that they looked at possible party venues to hold the reception.<p>

One thing she knew for certain was that Pansy was extremely indecisive; she couldn't make a final decision on anything, except what her wedding colors were going, which were purple and silver. Now she was currently sitting in a very post bridal boutique, while Pansy tried on dress after dress. And of course Pansy being Pansy, she couldn't decide on anything. She was beginning to think Pansy had absolutely no clue as to what she wanted; mermaid, ball gown, lace, silk, chiffon, ivory, off white, ones by would famous bridal gown designers, some by up and coming designers, or by designers she's never heard of before? It was a complete headache in the making.

They only good thing about this, is that while Pansy tried on gowns, she got to sit and relax, while munching on chocolate covered strawberries and sipping on champagne or in her case sparkling cider. But despite being exhausted and going from place to place, and despite her…uh apprehension about coming along, she's actually having a fairly good time. Pansy was a ball of energy and never seemed to stop talking, so they hadn't really run out of anything to talk about.

Pansy came out of the dressing room and stood in front of the full length mirror, what she had on was…well… "What do you think about this one?" Pansy asked her.

"Well it's…um unique." She tried to be polite about it.

"It's too much, isn't it?"

If by too much meant a revealing, see through lace corset top with crystals and beads covering the bust and huge ruffles and white peacock feathers covering the enormous princess ball gown skirt, and to top all that off, it looked like the entire thing was covered in a heavy coating of glitter…pink glitter.

"Um maybe a little." She giggled.

Pansy burst out laughing. "It's hideous." Pansy said wiping tears from her eyes. "Uh I need a break; everything is starting to blend together. You want to go grab a bite to eat? I'll come back here another time, when I have a better idea of what I want."

"Sure, I could eat." Even though she just ate about five chocolate covered strawberries.

They ended up eating a light lunch at a little café, where they could eat on the patio and watch the daily traffic go by, as they nibbled on delicious little finger sandwiches.

"So I've been thinking about bridesmaid dresses." Pansy said taking a sip of her tea.

"Oh, and what did you have in mind?"

"Well first of all, I can't decide if you and Ginny should both wear purple or silver dresses. Or if you wear a purple dress and Ginny wears a silver dress or vice versa." Hermione smiled at Pansy's indecisiveness, which had become a reoccurring theme that day. "But I do know that I want you two in different dresses. Only because by the time the wedding comes around, Ginny would have already had her baby and you will…"

"Look like a whale." Hermione supplied for her.

"I was going to say, will be very pregnant by that time."

Hermione laughed. "Nice save."

Pansy giggled, "My point is, I know both of you will have different figures by that time so I want you two to both wear something that flatters your new figures and also something you feel comfortable in."

"I think I'm okay with that. Too bad Ginny couldn't come with us. Then maybe you could measure her for my dress, and measure me for her dress. Since we'll be switching body types in the near future."

"No that wouldn't work. Ginny's taller…and has bigger breast." Pansy giggled.

"Hey!" she looked down at herself, then back at Pansy. "I'll have you know these puppies are growing by the day." She stuck out her chest to emphasize her point and then shrunk back, blushing when an elderly couple started giving them dirty looks.

"Umm," Pansy pretended to think about it. "No, I think Ginny would still have you beat."

They both burst out giggling.

"Anyway." Pansy wiped away a tear from her face. "I think I want both of you to wear purple. I'm afraid silver will wash everyone out, and I still need more splashes of purple in the wedding. Ooh and the guys can all wear purple bowties to match, won't that be charming?" Pansy wrote down all her new ideas in a small notebook, she called her 'wedding diary' that she'd been carrying around all with her all day.

"So are we going to go back to the bridal shop to look at more wedding dresses?" Hermione asked Pansy.

"No, I have something much more exciting in mind."

* * *

><p>"Do you have to endure this every day?" Blaise asked Draco as the three of them, Crissy included, watch some ridiculous children's program on TV, where grown men danced around in colorful costumes, shaped like fruits and vegetables, singing songs about…well everything.<p>

"Hermione only lets her watch it, because it's supposed to be educational."

"How is watching men dancing and singing, dressed as vegetables, educational? If anything, I would be terrified to eat my vegetables as a child, for fear I'd accidentally eat Broccoli Man, or Carrot Dude."

Draco laughed. "I don't know man; it's the only thing she likes to watch."

"Do you think she'll notice if I change the channel?"

Draco handed Blaise the remote, "Have at it, but I think she'll notice."

Blaise changed the channel to a rugby match and Crissy noticed, she turned her head towards Blaise, eyes welling up, she started to whimper. "Okay, okay sorry darling. Just don't cry." Blaise quickly changed the channel back.

Draco chuckled. "I told you mate."

Blaise shook his head. "She has you wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?"

"That she does." Draco told him running his hand over Crissy's soft baby curls.

"So how are you ribs? When do you get to go back to practice?"

"There fine, as good as new, and I go back tomorrow, as long as everything checks out all right, with the team healer."

"I'll bet your going stir crazy, not being able to fly every day."

"Ha, oh yeah, I made Hermione take me flying yesterday, which didn't go so well."

"Is she still scared to fly?"

"She's getting better, but yeah. Everything was going really well, until it came to landing. She claims I didn't teach her how to land properly, and well she panicked and I had to take control."

Blaise shook his head grinning. "A witch who doesn't like to fly, to this day, it still baffles me."

"I don't understand it either, but it's just not her thing. How do you think the girls are doing anyway?"

"Hopefully their getting all kinds of wedding details done and out of the way. I'm not going to lie; I do not envy Hermione right now. Last night Pansy and I spent four hours going over china patterns. And of course everything I liked, she hated. After a while I just told her to choose whatever she wanted. I love her, but I could care less what kind of pattern is on the plates we eat off of. Especially when we already have dishes in our cabinets at home, why do we need more?"

Draco shrugged. "It must be a girl thing. Because I completely zoned out, when you said china patterns."

Once Crissy's show ended, Draco decided it was time to put her down for a nap, since she was already starting to nod off. When he came back into the living room, Blaise was still sitting on the sofa watching TV.

"Since you're here, I could use your help with something, if you're up for it."

"Sure mate, what do you need?"

"Well it's something, I've been thinking about doing for a few days now. It's something I want to surprise Hermione with. But it's going to require some manual labor."

"Hey I'm up for anything manly, after watching an hour of men dancing around wearing vegetable costumes."

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><p>Pansy's idea of exciting, involved trying on sexy lingerie in a French lingerie boutique called Lacy Kate's. Within minutes Pansy hand an arm load of corsets, garter belts, bra, negligées, and other various bits and pieces, and then went straight to the dressing rooms to try everything on. Hermione felt like a bull in a china store, she didn't want to touch anything, and wasn't exactly sure where or what she was supposed to be looking at.<p>

Most of the items in the store were definitely not her normal baggy sleepwear; in fact they were the exact opposite. In the corner was a mannequin dressed in a corset made of black leather, which came with a matching whip, definitely not her thing?

A few minutes later Pansy came back, apparently on a mission to grab another armload of items. "Hermione what are you doing?"

Hermione who was now glancing at a rack of nightgowns, glanced up blushing, then stuffed her hands in her pockets as if she done something wrong. "Nothing."

"Exactly. Pick some stuff out and try it on." Pansy told her.

"Um okay." Hermione went back looking at the nightgowns that looked like they were meant for older women and not a 20 something, married woman.

"Not there Hermione. Pick out something fun and sexy. Something you wouldn't normally wear to bed. Something Draco would love to see you in." Pansy gestured over to the corsets and garter belts.

"Oh no, I couldn't wear anything like that in front of Draco." Hermione told her blushing.

"Why not. He's seen you naked already, and there must be something about you that drives him crazy. I mean you are pregnant with your second child."

Hermione tried not to imagine what it would be like if Draco saw her naked. "Exactly, I'm pregnant. I won't be able to wear any of this. In a few months I'll blow up like a balloon."

"Of course you can. We just need to find something that will work around that and highlight all your assets. And what better way to spice up your sexy time, then with some sexy lingerie."

"Sexy time?" Hermione asked amused.

"You know sexy time, like when you and Draco are alone or after you put Crissy to bed or…in the morning alone in the kitchen." Pansy wiggled her eyebrows at Hermione. "Don't you two take advantage of that time alone to be…you know together?"

Hermione blushed so hard, she was certain that she was glowing. "No…I mean yes, I guess. I mean it's been a while and we've been busy." She blushed even more, why was she discussing her sex life or lack of one with Pansy?

"Well we're just going to have to change that, here try this on." Pansy handed her something that was blue and silky. "And this…oh and this." Pansy continued around the store until Hermione had her very own armload of lingerie to try on. "Blaise and I have our sexy time almost every night and every other afternoon… and morning and well just anytime we feel like it really. And if we don't get around to doing it, then we schedule time to be together…in that way."

"That's good." And way too much information that she didn't need to know.

"Wearing lingerie helps spice up the mood and it keeps everything interesting. Sex can never be boring if you're wearing thigh high stockings and a garter belt."

"Right." Hermione muttered to herself. "Why didn't I think of that?"

She followed Pansy to the dressing rooms and stepped into the one next to her, closing the curtain behind her, Hermione started to hang up the various garments on the hooks and took a look at what Pansy picked out for her. Most of them consisted of silky negligées in bright colors. Picking the first one she decided to try it on, but once she put it on, she quickly found out that it wouldn't do, first it was skin tight, to the point where she couldn't breathe, and second it was completely see through, which she supposed was the entire point, but it wasn't for her. The second one was a bright yellow and it just made her look washed out and sickly, yellow wasn't a good color on her.

"How is it coming?" Pansy called over to her.

"Fine." She called back. "Sort of." She muttered to herself.

They continued to dress in silence, trying on outfits that weren't working out, at least for Hermione that was the case. For reasons that were beyond her, Hermione felt compelled to ask Pansy a question that's been bugging her for a while.

"Hey Pansy?"

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest, brutally honest if need be" Hermione told her changing into another ill-fitting garment.

"Of course you can ask me anything. And aren't I always honest? So ask whatever it is and I'll answer."

"What did you really think when you first found out about Draco and I, back in 7th year?" she asked biting her lip, why did she decide to bring this up, ugh she was an idiot.

Pansy was quiet for a moment as she thought it through. "At first I was shocked…but not necessarily surprised. I mean, since the…what was it? The first week of 7th year, you and Draco had been spending a lot of time together, because you two had some project that you had to work on together. But that wasn't why I wasn't surprised. Ever since our first year at Hogwarts he always found some way to pick on you, annoy you, make you angry…pretty much anything he could do, to get on your last nerve. And I know none of that was in anyway perceived as romance, but it's like the universal move of an immature school boy letting you know that he likes you. Even if he never realized it himself at the time. And really now that I think of it, you were really the only girl he ever picked on. At first I only thought it was because you were best friends with Harry and Ron, and the three of you made the golden trio, and I don't know I guess later on I started to suspect differently. And I guess I was shocked at first because, even though he might have secretly liked you before you got together, I never expected him to do anything about it at least publicly…no offense. Because well you know, it had been drilled into him since birth that anyone who wasn't a pureblood was considered beneath him and any involvement with anyone who wasn't of pureblood was unacceptable. And sadly, only at first mind you, I thought maybe Draco was fooling around with you just to get back at his father, but I learned quickly that, that wasn't the case. And again I'm not going to lie to you, at first it was strange and awkward seeing you two together, because we all spent so many years disliking each other. But then I saw how happy he was, when he was around you. You healed him, in ways Blaise and I never could, you changed his life around. Before he was miserable and depressed with everything that happened to his family and his partake in the war…whatever it was you did to him, you changed him for the better and made him smile again. And right then I knew you couldn't be all that bad."

Hermione smiled to herself after hearing what Pansy said.

"Why the sudden question about the past?" Pansy asked her.

"Oh no reason, I was just wondering is all." She told her.

She slipped on a pale blue, silky number, which had a solid silky bra like top, with tiny straps that kept the garment up, with built in support, which was surprisingly soft and comfortable. The rest of the negligée was made in a sheer material that was the same pale blue color and just as soft as the top. It flowed down to about mid-thigh, which ruffled out slightly at the hem, giving it a flirty look. And it did a good job of covering up all the major bits and pieces, but still showed enough skin to be considered sexy.

"So have you found anything you like yet?" Pansy asked pulling back the curtain, that Hermione was dressing behind, Hermione was startled by Pansy's sudden appearance, but she was thankful that she had at least been covered…well sort of. "Wow. That's the one, you look so hot."

Hermione looked down at herself in the pale blue lingerie. "Really, you think so?"

"Oh yeah, Draco will absolutely ravage you when he sees you in that."

Hermione blushed, still not entirely convinced that she would ever get enough courage to walk around in front of him wearing something like this. "I don't know, I still think it's a little much."

"Oh don't be silly Hermione, you look amazing in it. Live a little. If you don't buy it yourself, I'll buy it for you and then give it to Draco personally so he knows you have it."

"Okay, okay, I'll get it." But that didn't mean she had to wear it.

Pansy clapped her hands together. "Yeh, now what do you think of mine?" she asked Hermione.

Hermione was shocked that she didn't see her…um outfit before. "It's definitely…"

"Hot, Sexy. Yeah I know. I can't wait to wear this in front of Blaise tonight."

It was definitely something, black and purple, lace, sheer corset, with matching garter belt, stockings and um…thong. Hermione would never in a million years wear something like that, but in some ways, she was envious of Pansy in how she could wear something like that and not only look good, but feel comfortable in it. She didn't like to think of herself as a prude, but in a lot of ways she was one. It wasn't that she didn't like talking or thinking about sex or trying on lingerie, it was just…she didn't know how to, because she had no experience in any of this before.

"Oh and by the way. I was wrong. You really do have nicely sized breast." Pansy told her pointing to her bust. "That outfit shows them off well."

Hermione finally got home later that night, she apparated into the kitchen and noticed that the living room was empty.

"Hello," she called out, but got no answer.

She went to Crissy's nursery, but she wasn't there, then to the bedroom next, but still no one was in there either. She walked back into the living room and noticed Crissy's diaper bag still sitting on the kitchen counter, so they couldn't have gone anywhere unless of course Draco forgot to take it with them. She knew Blaise had already gone home, because Pansy talked to him while they were still shopping. So where on earth were Draco and Crissy right now?

The house was silent…except for a giggling sound coming from the backyard. Of course, why didn't she think of looking there first, it was still daylight out, so of course they would be out there. She walked out into the backyard and noticed right away there was something new and different in it. Draco was crouched down in front of a brand new, wooden swing set, complete with a plastic red slide, pushing Crissy gently in a baby swing. She walked up closer to it; neither of them noticed her there yet.

She could hear Crissy squealing in delight every time Draco would push her back in her little swing.

"Mama," Crissy squealed when she saw Hermione standing there.

Draco looked over his shoulder, and then stood up when he saw her, "Surprise."

She shook her head smiling. "This is amazing. Is this what you and Blaise did all day?" she walked over and picked Crissy up from her seat on the swing.

"Yep do you like it?" he asked looking unsure.

"Yeah it's fabulous. But the big question is, does Crissy like it?"

"Oh yeah, she loves it." He reached out and tickled Crissy's tummy. "I thought Crissy would like it, especially since she liked the one at the park so much."

"It's perfect." Hermione told him walking over to one of the swings and sat down, testing it out, while she sat Crissy in her lap. "And you and Blaise built this?"

"Well it came in a kit, but yeah. How was your day with Pansy, I see you made it in one piece."

"It went surprising well; mainly all I did was walk around with her as she picked out stuff for the wedding."

"Good, I told you everything would be fine with her didn't I? Besides I see you bought something while you were out so it couldn't have been all that bad?"

"Hmm?" she looked down and realized she was still carrying her bag from Lacy Kate's, oh bugger, she forgot to hide it in her room before coming out. "Oh that, yeah it was fine."

"So what did you buy?"

"Oh nothing just…clothes, nothing special. In fact I should probably go put it away, before it wrinkles." She stood up and started walking back into the house.

Later that night Hermione and Draco sat on the sofa watching TV after they put Crissy to sleep. "So what did you really buy today?" He asked her playing with the tip of her hair, which came loose from her clip.

"I told you clothes." She said nonchalantly.

"So will you wear them tomorrow then?" he asked.

She turned to face him. "There um more for a special occasion." She looked away blushing.

He lean in towards her. "So will you wear them tonight then?" He whispered in her ear.

She faced him surprised. "How did you…did Pansy tell you?"

He chuckled. "Pansy didn't tell me anything. I figured it out myself." He grinned.

"But how could you have possibly…"

"I saw the bag, anything that say French lingerie has to be something good." He grinned.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "For all you know, I could have bought very plain, while generic, big and frumpy knickers."

He grinned. "And did you."

She turned away, not saying anything to him, her face on fire.

"You know I love it when you do that." He ran a knuckle down her cheek. "Your whole face lights up."

"I don't see how you possibly could. It's embarrassing. And it's a dead giveaway, that lets everyone else around me know that I'm embarrassed."

"I think it's cute."

She snorted and shook her head. "Pansy made me buy it, she even threatened me, if I didn't buy it should would then send it to you, so you would know that I have it."

"How dare she, that witch, what an awful thing to do." He teased chuckling, and then kissed her. "So will I ever get to see what you bought?" he mumbled against her lips.

"Draco." She warned.

He sighed, "Right, sorry to much too soon." He ran a hand down his face. "Well it's getting late and we should probably get to bed or at least I should. I have to be at practice early tomorrow."

She nodded, feeling defeated as if she really wanted him to push more and fight back. She stood in their bedroom as Draco started getting ready for bed; he came out of the bathroom and saw her still standing there.

"Aren't you going to get ready for bed?"

"Um yeah. I just want to take a shower first, it's been a long day." She told hi trying not to sound nervous.

"Okay go ahead, the bathrooms all yours." He told her not having any clue as to what she had in mind.

She waited until her got into bed before she went into the bathroom and shut the door behind her. Okay it was now or never, she couldn't chicken out now. She opened the cabinet under her sink and pulled out the bag with her purchase. She decided to hide it in there, because no man would dare go snooping about where she kept all her girly products in the bathroom. Taking the garment out of the bag, she hung it on the hook by the door, so the wrinkles would come out with the steam from the shower.

She turned the water on and waited until it got nice and hot, before she stepped under it. She made sure to wash her hair and used conditioner so it would be nice and soft. And she used her jasmine scented body wash to make her skin smell good. Once she finished shaving her legs, she turned the water off and began to dry off.

She was so nervous, she was shaking. But it was a good kind of nervous, one she was excited but terrified at the same time about it. She brushed her teeth…twice, then blew dried her hair with her wand. She decided to forgo any makeup, because she didn't want to wake up in the morning with raccoon eyes. Then last but not least she put on her new…nightgown, yeah nightgown is a good word, one that didn't sound so scary like negligée. She looked at herself in the mirror.

"Okay you can do this, don't back out now." She told herself. "He'll stop if I want him too and he won't do anything, I'm not ready to do…he's a good guy."

She took a deep breath and opened the door with shaky fingers. The bedroom was dark, not a single lamp was on. The only light was coming from the bathroom door, that she just cracked open. She looked over at the bed and saw Draco lying there, on his stomach…fast asleep; she probably just spent an hour in the bathroom trying to work up the nerve to come out.

"Draco?" she called out softly and was rewarded with a soft snore coming from him. "And he sleeps," she murmured a quote from one of her favorite movies, "_Pretty Woman_."

Sighing again she walked over to her side of the bed and got in under the cover, already too exhausted to change back into her normal pajamas, and then fell asleep.

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><p>AN: Hey so I hope you liked this chapter, I made it longer then some of the past chapters I've written lately. Again sorry for the long wait, I promise I won't abandon this story, I have every intention of finishing it, so don't worry. I have big plans for the next chapter, so please keep on reading...and reviewing, I love reading all of your reviews and feedback on my stories. Anyway, so keep reading, and I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible.<p> 


	17. Chapter 17: The Morning After

Chapter Seventeen: The Morning After

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling.

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><p>The next morning Hermione woke up in a sweat, trying to stay as to still as possible. Maybe if she didn't move, the feeling will go away. Breathing deeply, in and out, she closed her eyes and tried not to think about it. But then Draco shifted on the bed next to her, causing the mattress to rock and she couldn't take it any longer. She groaned and quickly rolled out of her bed, and sprinted to the bathroom, barely making it in time before her stomach decided to revolt against her.<p>

Once her stomach finally emptied itself out, she sat back against the bathroom wall and pulled her legs up against her chest and dropped her forehead on her knees. The morning sickness passed, but she didn't want to take any chances moving again too quickly. So she decided to just sit there, breathing in and out deeply.

"Are you okay down there, or are you…not finished yet?" Draco asked.

"Ughn." She mumbled, figures he be awake, now, when she's puking out her stomach.

"Need a hand up?" he reached out his hand to her.

She put her clammy hand in his, which he graciously made no comment about, and he hoisted her up, keeping a hand on her waist to steady her.

It wasn't until she managed to stand on her own, that he finally notice her outfit from last night. "Wow."

He uttered, eye brows raised in admiration.

Ignoring his heated stare, she went to the sink and made quick work at brushing her teeth and rinsing out her mouth.

Draco didn't move from where he stood in the doorway, all he could do was stare. When did she put that on? Other than that first morning they woke up together, he hadn't seen her in anything that resembled lingerie. Well there had been some incidents, but during those times, she made sure to cover herself up as much as possible.

But this was…definitely not her normal pajamas that swallowed her whole, this was… sheer and sexy as hell. Granted all the best parts of her body were still covered, but it still left very little to the imagination. He could even see where her belly button was, through the sheer fabric and the still very tiny bump forming low in her belly.

The only things that were truly covered, meaning that he couldn't see through, were her breasts and whatever lay beneath her panties, which were in the same powder blue color of the rest of her negligee. As far as lingerie goes, hers was still very modest, but knowing how innocent she is, made it that much sexier, knowing she had gone out of her comfort zone to wear this.

And he still couldn't get over the fact that a woman, he'd known for at least eight years now, had legs like that. How could he have never noticed them before? They were long, lean and perfect.

He had to clear his throat, before he spoke, for fear he swallowed his tongue. "You look…wow."

"Hmm?" She turned to look at him, with her toothbrush still in her mouth, before he could clarify; she looked down at herself and grimaced. "Oh God!" she put the toothbrush down and tried to cover herself.

Draco went on alert at the look on her face. "What? Are you going to get sick again?"

"No…I just forgot I was wearing um…this." She told him, blushing now and trying desperately to tug the hem of the teddy down, so it covered more of her legs.

"You forgot?" he asked amused, still not able to take his eyes off her.

"Yeah I mean I woke up feeling sick, so I came in here, and well here we are."

So she didn't put it on this morning then? "So how long have you been wearing this then? I'm assuming you didn't put it on just to see if it fit?" If he wasn't mistaken, she blushed deeper and wouldn't meet his eyes.

"I…um had it on last night." She told him in barely a whisper.

It was difficult to make out her words, but he was pretty sure he understood them. "And you wore this all night long?" He gestured up and down her body with his hand. "How the bloody hell did I miss that?" he ran a hand through his hair, trying to remember her coming to bed last night.

"Well, by the time I came to bed, you were already asleep."

He walked closer to her realizing he was still standing by the door. "And I'm assuming, or hoping really, that you didn't wear that just to sleep in?" He asked his voice more low and husky than it had been before.

Her blush and the way she wouldn't look at him, was his answer.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"I…well in my defense I did try…sort of, but you barely stirred. And well I kind of lost my nerve and well chickened out…" She trailed off, and then took a deep breath. "I chickened out. And don't you dare make fun of me Draco Malfoy; you have no idea how much courage it took just to put this on in the first place. I'm not some tart who knows what they're doing. This is my first time, and I have no idea what I'm doing or how I should go about doing it."

He held up his hands to ward her off in case she decided to lash out at him. "Whoa, calm down, I'm not making fun of you."

"Then why are you smiling like that?" She asked him crossing her arms defensively across her chest.

"I'm smiling, not because I'm laughing at you, I'm just proud and flattered that you even considered…taking that next step with me last night. Of course I'm also mentally kicking myself for being a typical male and falling asleep, before anything good happened."

She bit her lip and looked away from him blushing. Merlin, he loved how her cheeks flushed with color whenever she was around him.

"I suppose, you wouldn't want to pick up where we left off from last night, would you?" he asked her, stepping towards her and wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close to his body.

She raised her eyebrow up at him. "You did just watch me vomit, less than two minutes ago, did you not?"

"Well yeah, but you're not getting sick right now and you brushed you're teeth."

She rolled her eyes at him and pushed on his chest with her hand until he released his arms from around her waist. "That's not the point. The point is that right now is not a very good time. And besides you have to be at practice in less than an hour, and Crissy will be up any minute." She told him, walking passed him to grab her robe off the bathroom door and put it on over her teddy, covering up her body from him.

He followed her and wrapped his arms around her from behind, so she was trapped between the bathroom sink and him, facing the mirror. "You'll soon find out that I can accomplish a lot in less than an hour." He whispered to her, pressing his lips to the pulse point on the side of her neck, then slowly worked his way up until he hit her sweet spot just below her ear.

"Draco." She half warned and half moaned, tilting her head to give him better access.

He untied her robe and pulled it back open so he could see her luscious body again. She watched him silently with her big brown eyes, heated with desire, as he began to slip the robe off her shoulders until it hit the ground in a puddle at their feet. He ran his hands up her arms, and noticed goosebumps prickled along her skin. And he could tell just by looking at their reflection in the mirror that she was aroused in more ways than one.

With one hand, he slipped one of the straps of her negligee off her shoulder, while his other hand skimmed up the bare skin of her upper thigh. Just as his hand moved under her skirt and started to venture up higher, they heard Crissy through the baby monitor in their bedroom.

He dropped his forehead on the back of her shoulder and groaned.

Hermione seemed to shake herself out of the sexual fog she had been under. "Told you." She muttered as she straightened out her outfit, then bent over and picked up the robe and started to put it back on, when he put his hand on her arm, and tugged her back over into his arms. "Draco we can't."

He lowered his head until his lips captured her and he kissed her passionately, before pulling away. "I know, but one of these days we won't get interrupted and I promise you won't regret it." He whispered to her breathlessly, then kissed her again swiftly, before pulling away and walked out of the bathroom to get Crissy.

Hermione didn't release her breath until Draco left the room completely. What the bloody hell just happened? One second he was teasing her, wanting to pick up where they left off, and then her telling him no, to him practically stripping her right in front of the mirror as she watched. As if she had been hypnotized and in some kind of trance by the movement and the feel of his hands.

If Crissy hadn't woken up just now, she probably would have let Draco strip her naked here in the bathroom, as she watched. She turned the faucet on at the sink and splashed cool water over her face and neck.

Her body vibrating with unsatisfied energy. She's going to have to deal with this sooner rather than later, and last night was a horribly weak attempt, that obviously didn't work out. And Merlin knew her body was screaming for some kind of release, pretty soon she might burst if they don't do something soon. The sexual tension between the two of them had become increasingly suffocating each day they've been stuck here.

Once she got herself somewhat under control and back to normal, she quickly changed into normal, 'safe' clothes and left the room. She walked into the kitchen and saw Draco rummaging through the fridge with Crissy on his hip.

Just looking at him made every nerve ending in her body tingle in awareness. Of course it helped that he's currently without a shirt. The warm glow of the light in the middle of the kitchen, helped highlight his strong muscular back and shoulders. The bruising on the side of his torso, barely noticeable now. Her gaze moved down further south to his narrow waist, admiring how his jeans hung low…very low on his hips, accenting two tiny dimples just above his bu…

"You know staring is considered impolite in most countries." He called out to her, with his head still in the refrigerator.

She felt her cheeks light up. "What gave you the impression I was staring at you?"

"I meant staring in general; I never implied that you were staring at me." He looked over his shoulder at her and winked. "That was all you."

She rolled her eyes at his back when he turned back to the refrigerator; Crissy had her head resting on his shoulder, with her pacifier in her mouth, watching her with sleepy eyes. "What are you looking for anyway?" she asked him as she walked closer to him, taking Crissy into her arms when she reached out her little arms towards her.

"Her food, I don't think we have any left." He told her running a hand through his hair and pulling out a carton of milk.

"Of course we do, did you look in the pantry?" she asked him, inhaling Crissy's now familiar, comforting baby smell, running her lips against her soft baby curls, as she watched Draco walk over and open the pantry cabinet to look inside.

"Nope, there's none here either. "

"Hmm, well I guess I'll have to stop by the store today and pick up some more." She said reaching passed him to grab the box of cereal and then a banana from the counter.

Seating Crissy in her highchair, Hermione unpeeled the banana and broke it in half, then tore it up into tiny bite size pieces for Crissy, and then added a small hand full of cereal for Crissy to chew on. Eating the other half of the banana, she walked over to the refrigerator and pulled out the jug of apple juice and filled Crissy's bottle with it. She glanced over and caught Draco watching her as he leaned against the counter holding his own bowl of cereal.

"I thought you said it was impolite to stare."

He nodded. "I did. Except I'm not staring, I'm admiring."

She blushed and rolled his eyes at his corny-ness and went back to focusing on feeding Crissy. "And there's a difference?"

"There is, staring implies unwanted attention making the other person uncomfortable."

"So when you mentioned earlier that I was staring, was it because I made you uncomfortable?" she quirked an eyebrow up at him, ugh why was she even egging him on?

"No, the opposite in fact." His eyes heated as he continued to watch her.

She blushed and turned away. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave? You have less than 20 minutes before you need to be at practice."

He chuckled. "Way to change the subject there." He told her placing his bowl in the sink. "I'll go get ready if it will make you feel better."

She nodded and watched him walk out of the kitchen chuckling. "Daddy is making things very confusing for mommy, making it hard for mommy to concentrate." She told Crissy who blinked up at her with her big brown eyes, stuffing pieces of cereal into her mouth.

Adding more cereal to Crissy's tray, she walked over and grabbed another banana and a jar of peanut butter, then walked back over to the table and sat down. Dipping a spoon into the peanut butter, she smeared the crunchy mix onto the banana and took a bite. Savoring the salty, sweet mix she pulled over a notepad sitting on the table and began to make a list of things they needed from the store.

As she took the last bite of her banana, Draco walked back into the kitchen. Clearly the only thing he did was change into his practice uniform. His cheeks and jaw still covered in a day's growth of stubble and his hair looked as though all he did was run his fingers through it. Of course on him, it looked great.

"That was quick." She told him as she got up to dispose of her banana peel.

"I figured there's no sense in taking a shower, when I'm going to get hot and sweating out on the pitch anyway."

"Right, hot and sweaty." She muttered under her breath.

Draco grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, which also needed replenishing, another thing to add to the grocery list. "So what do you have planned for today?"

Walking back over to the table she sat down and spooned out one last dollop of peanut butter, before twisting the lid shut. "Well I need to get to the grocery store, because we're running out of food. And I was planning on making a trip to Diagon Alley. I went over our stock of ingredients we have for potions and remedies and I made a list of items we need, not only for the Polyjuice potion, but also basic herbs and ingredients that are good to have around. And also to help not make it so obvious to the herbologist that we're getting ready to brew up some Polyjuice. But there are still a couple of items that I won't be able to pick up in Diagon Alley, but we'll come to that when we have an actual plan in place."

"Are you sure that's wise, maybe you should wait until I can accompany you."

"I've been to Diagon Alley loads of times, and I'm perfectly capable of going on my own and I appreciate your concern, but I'll be fine." She told him sticking her spoonful of peanut butter in her mouth and getting up to put the jar away, and to wet a clean wash cloth at the sink.

"And what will my princess be doing today?" Draco asked Crissy, lifting her out of her highchair and about his head as she giggled cheerfully.

Hermione walked over to them and grabbed one of Crissy's sticky hands and began to clean it with the wet cloth, then moved to her other hand. "She'll be coming with me on my errands." She told him, tickling Crissy's belly, before cleaning off her sticky mouth, before she accidently got any of it on Draco's practice uniform.

Once she was finished washing Crissy's face, Draco walked into the living room and set Crissy down in her playpen after laying a kiss on her cheek.

"What do you want for dinner tonight." She asked him wiping down the tray of Crissy's highchair, then walking back over to the sink to rinse the cloth out.

"Whatever you're in the mood for. I don't care." He said, his voice sounding very close to her, as if he were standing directly behind her.

Her spine straightened and awareness prickled her skin. "What have I told you about sneaking up on me?" she teased.

"Well you already knew I was in the room, so I didn't feel the need to announce myself and I didn't sneak, just simply walked up to you and you didn't seem to mind yesterday morning in this very kitchen or this morning in the bathroom." He told her putting his hands on her waist to turn her around, but she stopped him, since she wasn't finished washing the dishes in the sink.

"This morning doesn't count, since there was a mirror and I could see you."

He replaced his hands on her waist and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "And did you like watching me in the mirror, Hermione?"

Grimacing, "Shouldn't you be leaving for practice now?" she asked him avoiding his question altogether.

He chuckled, his breath tickling the back of her neck. "In a second." He told her making her turn around in his arms.

"Hey…mpmh" she tried to protest before his lips met hers.

It took her less than a second to just give in and melt into the kiss, though it was difficult trying not to touch him, since her hands were dripping wet with water. Even though she wanted to put her hands on his shoulders, mainly to steady herself so she wouldn't fall down. After a few more seconds of kissing, he pulled away.

"Be careful in Diagon Alley today." He said against her lips.

"Don't fall off your broom today." She said back.

Chuckling he kissed her swiftly once again, before stepping away from her. "See you later tonight." He winked at her, then apparated out of their kitchen.

Damn, how was it that he could manage to turn her into brainless mush, with one look or touch? She stayed rooted to the spot where he left her up against the counter in front of the sink, staring at the spot where he just apparated from. Before she managed to finally get her legs to stop shaking and work properly.

Once she finally finished tidying up the kitchen, she got Crissy ready to go shopping. Diagon Alley, was usually a crowded madhouse, on any day, so to make things easy and simple, she decided to shrink all essentials, like Crissy's diaper bag, full of goodies and Crissy's stroller and put them inside her purse, while she had Crissy strapped to her chest in a baby carrier. Since it could be hard to maneuver around amongst the crowds, and she didn't want to have to push around a stroller in all of that.

Making sure to grab both of her grocery lists, which she made earlier, she headed towards the garage and taking the family minivan, buckled Crissy up in her car seat and then headed towards the Leaky Cauldron in London.

Parking the van in a parking garage, that luckily was right down the street from the Leaky Cauldron, making sure she had everything she needed, she and Crissy made their way to the tavern. Walking through the heavy wooden door, Hermione felt as if she had been transported back in time. Everything looked and smelled the same in the Grimy, dirty pub. No matter how many times Tom and the other workers claimed to sweep the floors and wipe down the tables, the place still looked dusty.

Many witches and wizards sat at various tables around the bar area, drinking a pint of ale or eating an early lunch. Some saw her and Crissy walk in and gave them a friendly wave or nod of the head. She didn't recognize anyone while she walked through the tavern to get to the back, where the entrance to Diagon Alley lay.

Pulling out her wand out, she tapped on the bricks that opened to entrance, she let out a sigh of relief when the bricks shifted and began to pull apart revealing the crowded alley way of Diagon Alley. Luckily no had changed the password to get through the entrance in the last six years, of course why would they, since the entrance had been there, since, well forever.

She took a moment to soak in the noisy hustle and bustle that was Diagon Alley, so happy to discover it was finally back to normal after the war, and that the Apothecary, the potions shop was still open after all this time, since it was the main reason for coming here to begin with. But she wanted to stop in there last on their way out, because she didn't want to go around carrying a bag full of potions and ingredients all day. And of course since she was here she had to go and check out all of the bookstores, because how could she come here and not stop into Flourish and Blott's?

But first she wanted to get something to eat, the banana and peanut butter she had this morning wasn't holding down her hunger. Walking down towards the various cafes she noticed Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor was open, she heard it closed down during her 6th year after Florean Fortescue disappeared, but it seemed to be back in business. And what better way to cure her hunger than a nice big ice cream sundae. Walking into the shop, she noticed the sugar sweet aroma that was ice cream, walking up to the glass case to browse through the different ice cream flavors, but how could you possibly choose, when they had over 200 flavors to choose from.

Of course they had all of your basic flavors, but then some were a bit more exotic, like lavender beeswax, and wheatgrass pineapple. But then some were just completely bizarre like, turtle wax mud, and mermaid scale coated seaweed. And since she had Crissy with her, she decided to go with something simple that they both could enjoy. Going with a strawberry ice cream sundae would do the trick.

Of course she had to get the smallest size, because she didn't want to ruin her appetite for lunch later on, and she didn't want to give Crissy too much sugar, otherwise she wouldn't be able to put her down for her nap later on in the day. And besides a small sundae was about the size of a cereal bowl.

A short plump woman with red curly hair named Mary helped serve them, and she pretty much fell in love with Crissy, the second they walked in the door, constantly reaching out to pinch Crissy's chubby cheeks. And though Crissy wasn't thrilled about it she was still a good sport and didn't cry or pull away each time the woman reached out to her.

When Hermione reached in her purse to pay for the sundae, one of the bizarre flavors caught her eye. Pickle flavored ice cream, with real chunks of pickles in it. How did she miss that? Asking Mary if she could have a sample taste of it before she paid. Placing the spoonful full of the pickle green glob into her mouth, she closed her eyes to savor it. And it was absolutely disgusting…but her taste buds had died and gone to heaven, doing a happy dance inside her mouth as the ice cream made its way down her throat.

"Can I have a pint of this to go? Or better yet make it a quart." She told Mary, who then graciously offered to hold it for them until they were ready to leave Diagon Alley.

Draco would probably shutter in disgust when he noticed the flavor in the freezer. Walking out of the ice cream shop with the sundae in hand, trying to keep it far enough away so Crissy wouldn't stick her hands in it and get all sticky before the day even started.

She found an empty table near one of the cafes and sat down giving Crissy little bites of the sundae as she herself took big bites, being careful not to get a brain freeze. Once she and Crissy managed to tackle the mountain of ice cream, at least until it was no longer over flowing over the sides of the bowl, she got up to start shopping.

Going inside Whizz Hard Books, one of the various book shops in Diagon Alley. Browsing through it quickly, just to see what they had. But she didn't really find anything, mainly because most of the books they had in the shop were about Quidditch.

As they were getting ready to leave, the store clerk came out of the back room, "Ah, Mrs. Malfoy, how good it is to see you again. And how is little Miss Malfoy doing today?" the store clerk asked Crissy.

"At the moment she's full of ice cream, so I'd say she's doing pretty well. And…uh how are you doing?"

She asked the elderly man, who she didn't know, but he seemed friendly and he knew who they were.

"Oh good, good. Say is your husband here today?" he asked her.

"Oh, no he has practice today. I'm just here to do a bit of shopping."

"Good, good. And how are his ribs doing? I heard he had a nasty fall the other day at the game."

"Oh he's fine, stubborn, but fine, completely healed."

"Good, good. Well be sure to tell him, his book is selling like hot cakes, all the young teenage witches and wizards too, are buying them, can barely keep them on the shelves."

"His book?" she asked before realizing that this was something she should have probably been aware of and should have kept her mouth shut.

"Oh you know that biography about your husband's life and quidditch fame that, that author Charlie Monroe wrote."

"Oh yes, how could I forget about that. Say you wouldn't happen to have a copy of it here would you. A friend of mine wanted me to get a copy of it for her."

"Oh sure let me just get one from the back. We just got a new shipment of them in today."

"Great that would be wonderful thank you."

Hermione wondered what Draco would think about having a biography written about him. a moment later the store clerk came back out holding a slim paperback book.

"Here we are." He told her holding up the book.

"Oh thank you so much." She took the book and quickly flipped through it.

It was very easy to tell why it was popular amongst teenage girls, since it was practically a picture book with some facts about his life. It had pictures of him on his broom, playing quidditch, standing, sitting, some with his shirt off, some with the rest of his team and one where he was standing in what looked like the middle of a quidditch pitch and she was there as well. He had his arm around her and they were kissing and it was obvious she was pregnant in the photo, since her belly stuck out.

"Dada!" Crissy squealed pointing to the picture of the two of them.

"Yeah and that's you." She told her pointing to her belly in the photo.

She reached inside her purse to pay for the book, but the sales clerk shooed away her money. "It's on the house. But if you bring me in an autograph from you husband then that would be even better."

"Deal. Thank you very much. I'll make sure to bring Draco with me next time and he can sign it for you in person."

"Deal. Well enjoy the rest of your day."

"Thank you, you too!"

They walked out of the shop and she decided to take a look inside Magical Menagerie to look at all the animals and she figured Crissy would enjoy that as well. In the window they had a litter of kittens that had various shades of purple fur. They spent quite a few moments playing with the kittens and Crissy of course wanted to pet each and every one. They probably spent a good hour or so in there playing with and looking at all the different magical animals.

Finally they made their way into Flourish and Blott's, which she could spend hours in, but since she had Crissy with her, she had to keep the browsing to a minimum. Starting in the front, she made her way around the store, when she came to the G's in the nonfiction section and she saw her name. It was an odd, but very thrilling feeling to see books that she had written, in her favorite bookstore. There was exactly one copy of each book that she had written sitting on the shelf. And just because she could, she took one off the shelf and began to leaf through it.

Lost in reading an excerpt from one of the books, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see a young girl maybe around 18 or 19 years old.

"Um hi, I'm sorry to disturb you, and you'll probably think I'm really lame, but I'm a huge fan of your books and writing. And I was wondering if I could have an autograph." The girl asked, a pink blush crossing her cheeks.

"Sure of course I would be honored." She told her, trying not to freak out knowing this was her first autograph signing and that this woman was actually a fan of hers.

"I wish I had a copy of one of your books with me to get signed, but this will do just fine." She told her handing Hermione an old receipt and a pen.

"What's your name?" She asked the girl accepting the piece of paper and pen.

"Suzy Jackson."

"Well Suzy Jackson, like I said I'm honored and I don't think your lame for wanting an autograph." She told Suzy, handing back the paper and pen.

"You'll probably think I'm a crazy fan, but I can't wait to get home and frame this."

Hermione chuckled, "I'm flattered."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, but do you think or are you going to be writing any more books soon?"

"Well I'm not working on anything at the moment, what with taking care of this little one here, I haven't really had time. But yeah someday I'll probably start writing again. I can't say when exactly, but someday…soon." She added at the last second, because Suzy started to look bummed out when she told her she hadn't been working on anything lately.

"Oh great, well I'll be first in line when it comes out."

Hermione chuckled again. "I'll look forward to it."

She continued to through the store, still on a giddy high, that she actually had a fan. Crissy was starting to get restless, so Hermione decided to go ahead and pay for the books she managed to find while looking. Once they left Flourish and Blott's, they made their way towards Apothecary, the potions shop, walking inside the shop, wasn't the most pleasant smelling place to be. The store keeper probably had 15 different potions brewing at the same time towards the back of the shop.

Pulling out her list of ingredients they needed, she started looking through the shop, for the Polyjuice Potion she needed; lacewig flies, leeches, bicorn horn (powdered), knotgrass, fluxweed and boomslang skin (shredded). The fluxweed had to be picked on a night with a full moon, so she would need to find that later on. Leeches, as unpleasant as they are, she could find anywhere near a pond or stream. And knotgrass, she could also find on her own. So what she needed today would be lacewig flies, bicorn horn and boomslang skin.

She found the bicorn horn and boomslang skin and added them to her basket, she also found the lacewig flies, there was only one jar left of them on the shelf. She also went ahead and added other various potions ingredients to the mix; bezoar, ginger, murtlap essence, belladonna, flobberworms and then a jar or wound cleaning potion.

The store keeper bagged her ingredients, no questions asked, which was a relief, he seemed to be a bit distracted with one of the cauldrons in the back overflowing with reddish bubbles and slime. Checking just about everything off her list she decided to head back to the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron, but not before stopping by to pick up her quart of pickle ice cream from Mary over at the ice cream parlor.

They had one more stop, before heading home, which was the grocery store; Crissy wasn't very happy to have to sit through more shopping and she was starting to get sleepy, which meant she was becoming cranky. But they both made it through the last errand without incident. By the time they finally got home, Crissy was about to crash, she could barely keep her eyes open, and unfortunately it was a little past her normal naptime, but hopefully she would still go to bed when it came to her actual bedtime.

Once she put Crissy down, Hermione went to work putting all the groceries away first and then sorting out her potion ingredients, making sure they were all labeled properly and put away where they were supposed to go, mainly so they were out of reach from Crissy's curious fingers.

She was putting away the last potion ingredient when she heard a tapping at the window, looking over she noticed a light colored owl, one she didn't recognize, opening the window she accepted the letter the owl was carrying. It was addressed to her; she opened the letter and realized it was from Draco.

'_Hermione, _

_I would have called on the telephone, but I kind of forgot the house number, so I sent this letter instead. Besides you are probably out shopping anyway and wouldn't be there if I called. Anyway I just wanted to let you know, there has been a change in plans. The coach wants me to stay after practice to go over some stuff. So I probably won't make it home in time for dinner, so don't wait up for me. Give a goodnight kiss to Crissy for me and see you later._

_Draco'_

Well at least that means she wouldn't have to cook anything decent for dinner tonight, maybe she'll order in Chinese instead. And also, this time her actually remembered to call and write, telling her she wouldn't be in till late tonight, unlike last time when he didn't and she ended up worrying all night long, wondering where he was.

Taking out her pickle ice cream, she scooped some out in a bowl and then went and sat down on the couch, finally enjoying a quiet moment for herself and relaxed after a long day of walking. Crissy napped for about an hour and a half and then woke up, because she was hungry. Once she got Crissy fed and her Chinese food arrived, they say down together and popped in a movie, once Draco would probably not want to sit through, since it was an animated picture about a princess who wanted to find her prince charming and it was the kind of movie where the characters constantly broke out into song every ten minutes or so.

Crissy fell asleep halfway through, so Hermione went ahead and out her down for bed. It was still fairly early when Crissy went to bed, so Hermione decided to take a bubble bath. She wanted more of that delicious pickle ice cream, but she didn't want to make herself sick so she decided to forgo it. Making sure she could hear the baby monitor from the bathroom, she filled the bathtub with jasmine scented bubble bath, until it was practically over flowing.

Making sure she had all of her new books that she purchased that day to read and look through as she relaxed in the bath. Stepping into the hot water and laying back until the bubbles reached her chin. Picking up the first book on the pile she opened it up and started reading. It was a baby book she found at Flourish and Blott's, it was called _I Have a Magical Baby_, a how to book for parents who have a baby who is showing signs of performing magic. Crissy was still really little, but her magic would probably be kicking in soon, so it was probably a good book to read.

But since it didn't really apply to Crissy at the moment, she decided to put it down and read something else, because she was in here to relax, not study; even though that's what she's good at. The next book she picked up happened to be Draco's 'book' if that was even what you would call it. It was mainly a picture book with some facts about his life and his quidditch stats. She looked through all of the pictures one more time before setting that book down along with the baby book. Next was a non-fiction romance, novel she picked up, one of her guilty pleasures, which she soon got lost in, when she opened it up and started reading.

After a long, hot grueling day at practice, Draco's coach Bob wanted to take him out to dinner and discuss things. He quickly realized that he must have heard the rumors that he might transfer teams. He took Draco out to ta little hole in the wall pub, that served really good ale and fish and chips. And just as Draco suspected the coach did want to talk about the future and what he was thinking about doing.

According to Gwen, he couldn't tell anyone his final decision until they had some kind of press conference, and he really wanted to assure his coach that everything would work out, because he was seriously considering staying with the bats. Of course he hadn't said anything to anyone about what his possible decision was, not to Gwen, not even to Hermione. Overall, despite the tension they had a good time and the coach promised good amenities and financial benefits if he decided to stay with the Bats.

He didn't get home until much later, than even he expected. It was just before midnight when he apparated into the kitchen. The house was quiet and all the lights were out, which probably meant both of the girls were already asleep. He set his bag down on the kitchen table and went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, gulping down a few swigs of ice cold water, he quietly walked up to Crissy's bedroom and cracked open the door to peek inside.

She was sound asleep, lying on her back sucking her thumb, while her other hand clutched to the tail of her stuffed dragon.

"Sleep tight Princess." He whispered to her running a light hand over her curls

Taking one last look at his daughter her quietly shut the door behind him and proceeded down the hall to the master bedroom. He couldn't see any light coming from underneath the door. So that probably meant Hermione was asleep.

He quietly opened the door, not wanting to knock in case he woke her up. And sure enough she was sound asleep as well, curled up on her side facing away from him. He quietly padded across the room to the bathroom, where he got ready for bed. Walking back out to the bedroom, he took off his shirt and stripped down to his boxers, walking over to his side of the bed, he pulled back the sheets, trying not to disturb Hermione.

He did notice…sadly, that she wore her usual pajamas that covered everything up and swallowed her whole, to his greatest regret. Of course, it wasn't like he was expecting her to be wearing her sexy little outfit she had on this morning…okay, so maybe he was hoping, that she at least be awake when he got home, so they could pick up where they left off. But he didn't expect to be home so late either, so he couldn't blame her for going to bed.

He tried very carefully not to jostle the bed as he got in and to his relief…and disappointment, Hermione didn't even stir. He lay on his back and draped the bed covers over his waist and stared up at the ceiling. He was tired, but restless, like he couldn't quite get his body to relax and be still. He had been distracted all day by images of Hermione wearing nothing but a sexy negligée that left very little imagination as to what lay underneath it. And damn it, now he couldn't get that image out of his head. Scrubbing a hand over his face, he tried to think of anything other than that, before he embarrassed himself. Glancing over at her quickly, he noticed that she still hadn't moved and by the even sound of her breathing she was out cold. Sighing he turned over on his side and shut his eyes, willing sleep to come, and not think about the woman sleeping next to him, and how much he wanted her.

Hermione woke up after a practically steaming dream, involving a shirtless Draco, bubble bath and pickle ice cream. Bringing on that foreign achy, needy feeling where she felt hot from the inside out. These pregnancy hormones were causing her imagination to run wild and get very creative lately.

Looking over at her bedside clock she noticed it was a little after midnight. Turning to her other side, she noticed right away that she wasn't alone in bed. When did he get back? She didn't even hear him come in or feel him get into bed. She must have been more tired than she thought.

The room was dark, but the moon was bright, providing enough light to make out his features. He was on his side facing her. One arm tucked underneath his pillow, the other laying across his naked abdomen, his lips slightly parted in sleep. She took a few moments, just to look at him, taking this moment to really study him without him knowing or watching her in return.

He really was quite beautiful, the moon light making his skin look pale and smooth like marble, making her fingers itch to touch him to see if his skin would be cool or warm under her fingertips. She scooted closer to him to get a better look; she could make out the ripples of muscle that outlines his biceps and forearms, as well as the muscle along his chest and abdomen.

Without thinking she reached out and ran a feather light finger starting from his shoulder down to his elbow, his muscles slightly bunching beneath her touch. His skin definitely not cool to the touch, but deliciously warm. She looked up at his face; to make sure she hadn't woke him up. She let her fingers linger on his arm, and then lightly trailed back up over his shoulder. She traced his collarbone and then up his throat and along his jaw. Which she noticed was smooth and free of stubble, he must have shaved at some point between him leaving this morning for practice and now.

Some of his hair fell into his eyes, so she reached up and pushed it back off his forehead and let her fingers linger some more over his temple, across his eyelids, down his nose, over his cheeks and last but not least his lips. Which were as soft as she imagined, of course she knew now firsthand what they felt like on her, but she had never actually touched them and explored them like she was doing now. She wanted to explore more, more than just his arms and face. Of course she wasn't going to act on that impulse, touching him as she was now, was bad enough, and she wasn't planning on groping him while he slept, because morally it wasn't right and she didn't exactly trust herself in doing so.

Keeping her fingertips on his lips, she looked down his body, imagining what the rest of him would feel like under her fingers or against her skin. The bed sheet coving his body, pooled low on his hips, exposing his naked abdomen and chest. His chest was smooth and hair free, which she liked, she wasn't a huge fan of guy's with hairy chest; it just didn't do it for her. She wanted to be bold and run her hand down his chest and feel the warm smooth skin. She was about to move her hand, which was still caressing his lips, and do just that when she looked up at his face and realized his eyes were open and he was silently watching her.

She gasped and tried to pull her hand away, embarrassed that he caught her touching him. But he caught her hand and held it against his cheek, keeping his hand there on top of hers, slowing caressing the back of her hand and wrist with his fingers. How long had he been awake? She wanted to pull her hand away and turn onto her other side away from him and hope he would go back to sleep, but she didn't, instead she stared right back at him as he continued to watch her silently.

Instead of backing away from him, she moved closer to him, til she felt his legs brush up against hers. Her gaze dropped back down to his lips. His hand moved up her arm, caressing the sensitive skin on the inside of her arm. Her hand stayed against his jaw and cheek, her thumb tracing the corner of his mouth. He caught her wandering thumb between his lips and nipped at the pad there, then gently sucked on it to sooth the sting.

Her breathing increased, and she had an extreme urge to kiss him, but he still wasn't making any move towards her to do just that. He continued to watch her silently, it was dark in the room, but she could still see the intense heat in his eyes, challenging her to make the first move. Not taking her eyes off him, she scooted even closer to him until her body was practically flush up against his.

He still didn't move or say anything, but she could tell he was just as affected as she was based on his breathing alone. The hand he had on her arm moved to her back, gently caressing the back of her shoulder blade. The light pressure from his fingertips encouraged her to close the distance between them.

It was now or never, don't chicken out now, she told herself. Licking her lips she leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips. He responded, but left the control all for her. So she kissed him again, harder this time, tangling her fingers through his hair. Feeling even braver she used her tongue to trace the seam of his lips until he opened up and let her in, deepening the kiss.

Taking her time he let her explore his mouth, lip and teeth. Sucking on his lower lip she gently nibbled on it, to see how he would react, and in response he groaned low in his throat and rolled her onto her back, taking control over the kiss. She lay beneath him as he hovered over her, keeping the majority of his weight off of her and onto elbows beside her head, his hips settling in against hers.

They continued to kiss, tongues dueling, breathing heavily. Her hands left his hair to trail down and explore the muscles on his shoulders and back. She wrapped her legs low on his hips to keep him where she wanted him. He smelled so good, like warm musky soap with a hint of mint, it was practically intoxicating. And he felt so good lying on top of her, warm smooth skin and hard muscles, her fingers couldn't get enough of him.

He lifted his mouth from her to suck in a deep breath and looked down into her eyes, as his hand reached up to stroked his fingers down her cheek. "Are you sure?" he whispered to her.

Was she? She ran her fingers up and down his spine and over the back of his ribs. Yes she was, she nodded her response to him then reached up to kiss him again, but he stopped her.

"Baby, I need to hear you say it" he told her, his voice taking on a more husky tone.

She nodded again. "Yes I'm sure." She told him breathlessly. "I want this. I want you, Draco." She added blushing.

He smiled down at her, and then leaned down to kiss her again. "I love it when you blush." He mumbled against her lips.

"Ugh why, it's embarrassing."

He chuckled. "No, I think it's sexy."

She pushed at his shoulder teasingly. "You're such a lair. How can you even tell I'm blushing?"

"Because I know you now, and I know you blush every time your around me, but I also know because I could feel your face get really hot." He told her kissing her cheek, then her jaw, down her throat to the pulse point at her neck, which was beating rapidly.

She forgot what she was going to say when he gently bit her earlobe, then sucked it into his mouth, her hips involuntarily lifted up to meet his, which resulted in a moan from him. His hand found the hem of her night shirt and began to push it up over her belly, stopping just below her breast. His hands skimmed up her belly and over her ribs, caressing her skin with feather light touches. His fingers reached in under her shirt and skimmed over her breasts.

She sucked in a breath at the feel of his hands on her. Arching up to press herself more fully against him, a whimper escaped her throat. Regretfully Draco pulled his hands out from under her shirt and sat up a little. She thought maybe he was stopping altogether when he took the hem of her shirt and pulled it up and over her head, then tossed it somewhere on the ground, revealing her from the waist up. She had the strongest urge to cover herself up, embarrassed, but kept her arms down at her side as his gaze raked over her body. Anticipation made her body quiver with need as he leaned back over her and kissed her.

"Perfect." He mumbled against her lips as his hands made their way back up, exploring her chest. "Your skin is so soft." He told her as he kissed down her neck, over her collarbone and down the valley between her breasts.

"Draco." She whimpered, tangling her fingers though is hair.

He continued to torture her, exploring, kissing and tasting her naked flesh, until she was withering in need beneath him. Somewhere along the way he managed to get her pants off, leaving her in nothing but her panties which were lavender lace.

"Pretty." He murmured tracing a finger over the top of them.

She never thought that she looked beautiful, more like plain or maybe cute even, but not beautiful. But the way Draco was looking at her now made her feel more beautiful and sexy then she ever thought possible. He tossed the bed sheet away from their bodies creating a draft of cool breeze hit over her heated skin.

"What are you doing?" she asked him breathlessly.

"I need more room and I also want to be able to see you, all of you." He smiled at her wickedly, as he hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and began to drag them down her legs.

Closing her eyes, not wanting to witness the look on his face when he saw her in all her naked glory. She could count only a tiny handful of people who had actually seen her naked and they included doctors, her mother and maybe her grandmother. But never a boy…no a man in such an intimate setting.

Her eyes flew open and she gasped when she felt his lips on her ankle, then the inside of her knee and moving higher. His hands skimming up her thighs, he crept up even higher, his lips following the path of his fingers. He wasn't going to do, what she thought he was going to do, was he?

"Draco, you don't have to do…"

"Shh," he kissed the inside of her thigh. "I want to." And then he kissed her…there.

Her body tensed up with these new sensations he was creating for her. She may be inexperienced when it came to sex, but she still read, a lot, particularly romance novels, so she wasn't completely uninformed when it came to bedroom activities.

"Hermione just relax and stop thinking, just feel." He mumbled against her skin.

She took a deep breath and forced herself to relax, letting the sensation take over. It didn't take long until her body turned into a withering pile of nerves and her bones turned to mush. Trailing kisses back up her body, he stopped just above her belly and looked up at her.

"This won't hurt him, will it?" he asked her talking about their baby.

She shook her head, "No." she managed to say catching her breath.

She ran her hands down his chest and abs, then helped him remove his boxers, then finally settled his hips against hers, as she wrapped her legs around his waist.

"Last chance to change your mind." He whispered against her lips.

She looked into his eyes and ran her hand against his jaw. "No. I still want this." She whispered back. "You?"

"Me too, more than anything." He told her his voice sounding hoarse; he smiled down at her and kissed her sweetly on the lips. "You'll tell me if anything hurts or feels uncomfortable right?"

She nodded. "I have a feeling my body is a lot more experience than I am, so I think we'll be okay." She giggled, and then sighed. "Okay now kiss me before I manage to talk myself out of this."

He chuckled. "Bossy. I like it."

He kissed her and then the next think she knew it was happening. It felt even better then she expected or imagined it would feel like. And it didn't hurt one bit. And Draco was so great about it, clearly he was more experienced than her and actually knew what he was doing, but he was also so gentle and sweet about it, making sure she was okay the entire time. She couldn't get enough of the feel of him on top of her, his body warm and hard against hers, it was enough to send her over the edge. He followed after her, almost collapsing on top of her, but he caught himself before he squished her, and turned over on his side taking her with him, until she was on top of his chest, nestled against his body.

She was sated and completely relaxed, more relaxed then she had been in a really long time. There was only one small thing that was going through the back of her mind over and over again as she tried to catch her breath. Holy crap, she just had sex with Draco Malfoy, and she liked it and wanted to do it again.

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><p><strong>AN: Hey everyone again sorry for the long wait. I went on vacation and didn't have time to get it sent in before I left. But anyway, I hope you liked this chapter...they finally did it, lol anyway. I bet everyone wanted to yell at me when nothing happened in the morning when they woke up, but hopefully I made it up to you with the ending. Anyway again please keep reading and reviewing, I want to hear what you thought of this chapter!<strong>


	18. Chapter 18: To Love or Not to Love?

Chapter Eighteen: To Love or Not to Love?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling

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><p>Hermione lay cuddled up against Draco's side, her head on his shoulder as she drew lazy circles across his chest with her fingers. They both laid there silent, caught up in their own thoughts. She might have appeared calm, cool and collected on the outside, but in the inside her mind was taking on an overload of emotions.<p>

She just lost her virginity…sort of. To the Slytherins resident bad boy, her former enemy. Was everything going to be the same now, that they finally did the deed? We're they going to just go back to normal, now that it's over? Was it going to get better, maybe even evolve into something more? Or was he going to move on, now that he finally put his mark on her, there's no need to continue to be nice to her? She thought this thing between them, was just going to be sex, something they both wanted, something that felt good, and the release her body had been screaming for, for the last few days now.

But what just happened between them was so much more, felt like so much more, at least to her anyway and it terrified her. She knew she cared for him, otherwise she would have never agreed to do what they just did now, but the emotions running through her now went far beyond caring.

Physically she wanted him, emotionally she craved him, and mentally she knew he could break her heart for good, if she wasn't careful. Did he feel the same way? Probably not. Sure he cared about her and he knew this moment was a big thing for her, but to him she was probably just any other shag, another notch on his bedpost. It was definitely doing to be a memorable moment that she would never forget, but it wasn't like she did anything spectacular that would have made it memorable for him.

She practically laid there and let him take control and do all the work, making her just one out of numerous other women he had slept with. Ugh, she hated this, why couldn't she just turn her brain off and let herself bask in the glow from their love making…or sex, because that's what it was, just sex.

Jeeze, now she's probably going to act all awkward around him, or at least not be able to act normal any more.

Okay enough! She needed to stop moping about this, so what if it was just sex and he didn't feel the same way about her which she might be feeling about him. The sex wasn't bad; it was fantastic, mind blowing in fact. And there was no way she would be able to pass up another opportunity at a round two, three, and four and so on. Just as long as she reminded herself about the consequences beforehand, and made sure to guard her heart.

There was no way she's going to screw this up early on, by bringing in feelings to the mix, even if they were one sided. Mainly for Crissy's sake. She didn't want to mess up their 'friendly companionship and end up breaking up their family.

If it wasn't for his fingers trailing up and down her spine, she would have thought he had fallen asleep.

He nuzzled her hair and as if reading her mind he said, "You're not going to clam up on me now are you?"

She snorted, "I was thinking about it." She told him then started giggling uncontrollably for no particular reason, of it was that or burst out crying…blasted hormones. "Sorry I don't know what came over me just now." She muttered once she managed to control her giggling.

"Do you regret what just happened?" he asked her sounding serious and if she wasn't mistaken unsure.

She looked up so she could see his face. "No." She whispered knowing she was telling him the truth, despite her mixed up emotions she didn't regret it.

"Good." He told her, not giving any kind of emotion away.

She suddenly felt unsure, did this mean that he regretted it, not only was it not exciting for him, but he regretted it ever happened?

She had to know the truth, "Do you?" she held her breath waiting for his answer.

He brought his hand up to her face and stroked his fingers down her cheek as he smiled down at her. "No." He whispered.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Good."

She sat up then and moved to her side of the bed, making sure the bed sheet covered her chest as she bent over the side searching for her shirt.

"Hey where are you going?" he asked her, trying to tug her back to his side.

"I'm hungry, I'm going to grab something to eat." She told him as she got out of bed not bothering to put on her pants, which were flung somewhere on the other side of the room , and her shirt covered her all the way down to mid-thigh.

Then made her way to the kitchen, leaving Draco behind, naked in bed, sigh. Truthfully she was hungry, starving in fact, but she needed at least a minute to herself to think or…not think in this case. She went over to the refrigerator and pulled up the freezer to get out her special ice cream. Not bothering to turn on any light, since the moon was high in the sky and bright enough to light the room. Forgoing a bowl, she grabbed a clean spoon and started eating out of the carton.

She knew the second Draco walked into the kitchen without having to turn around. It was as if her body was completely attuned to him. He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her against him. Leaning down he kissed that sweet spot just below her ear.

"What'cha eating?" he mumbled against her skin.

"Ice cream." She told him after swallowing a big bite and scooping out another, she started to lift the spoon to her lips, when he snatched it away and stole her bite. "No…" she tried to stop him before his lips closed over the spoon, but it was too late.

The look on his face was hilarious once the ice cream hit his taste buds. He quickly ran over to the sink and spat it out and rinsed his mouth out over and over again with water.

"Yuck, what the hell kind of ice cream is that?" he asked wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Pickle flavored." She said trying not to giggle as she took another bite.

He grimaced. "Where on earth did you find pickle flavored ice cream?"

"Diagon Alley."

He shook his head. "Figures," he muttered.

"In all fairness I did try to warn you before you stole a bite of it."

"Well in the future remind me not to steal any bites of your food while you're pregnant again." He teased and grabbed an apple and bit into it.

Hermione walked over to the counter, making sure her t-shirt covered all the important bits as she hopped onto the counter letting her feet dangle over the edge.

Taking another bite of her ice cream she asked, "So this probably isn't your normal scene is it?"

"Normal scene?" He asked looking confused.

"Having to stick around afterwards."

"Stick around?" He asked still looking lost.

"Oh come on. It's no secret that you're a love'em leave'em kind of guy. You're only a one night stand kind of guy, and you never sleep with the same girl twice, and you never stick around long enough for morning to come. You leave before anyone gets a chance to fall asleep."

Draco smirked at her, throwing away the core of his apple in the trash, then leaned his hip against the counter, crossing his arms over his chest. "And where exactly did you hear all of that?" he asked quirking an eye brow at her.

She shrugged. "Girls talk."

"Oh? And what prey tell do they say?"

"That you don't do relationships, you might occasionally date, but only if promised to get sex at the end of the dates."

Draco snorted. "And you believe that?"

"No, but I figured there must be some truth to it, because the girls wouldn't all call you sex god for nothing."

"Really girls call me a sex god?" he asked her in mock surprise.

She shoved at his shoulder. "Oh don't you dare act surprised. You know perfectly well that they all call you that behind your back. "

"And do you call me that Hermione. Do you think I'm a sex god?"

She blushed slightly. "No I didn't, but then again I wasn't exactly mooning after you like a lovesick puppy. Unlike the rest of the female population at Hogwarts."

"Exactly how many girls do you think I've actually slept with?" He crossed his arms over his chest again and looked at her.

"Honestly I don't even want to think about it. But rumor has it that you've been working your way from house to house, starting with the 7th years and working your way down."

He just stared at her the finally spoke. "And you believe that?" He whispered looking a little pissed.

"No or I don't know." She sighed trying not to make a big deal out of it, why did she even bring this up? "I mean I never really cared before." Great now she was started to feel jealous of all the other girls he had slept with before her. And he was probably busy comparing her uh…lovemaking with all the other women right now.

"And now?" he asked quietly.

"Does it really matter?"

If she wasn't mistaken she could have sworn she saw him wince at her response, as if her answer hurt him in some way. "No I guess not." He sighed. "And despite whatever you've heard I'll have you know it's all been overly exaggerated. Because I haven't nor will I ever work my way through the houses. And I have never had any kind of check list or ultimate goal with whom I slept with. And I probably haven't even talked, let alone look at the girls who told you all of this." He told her stepping in front of her.

"So you didn't sleep with Toni Clark?" she asked him, ugh why was she doing this, she should just stop talking.

He grimaced. "Hufflepuff right? But that was like two years ago."

"What about Heather Lange?"

"Are we really going to discuss every girl from my past?" he asked her clearly avoiding the question, but it didn't escape her notice the slight wince after she mentioned the last girls name.

He set his hands on her knees and slowly pushed them apart so he could step between them. "Why don't we go back to your first question." He said taking the ice cream carton away from her and setting it in the sink.

Her pulse sped up. "Uh what was that again?"

"Whether or not I stick around afterwards."

"Oh and uh do you?"

"No not really, or actually no, never. You were right about that. But it was mainly so I wouldn't get caught."

Not exactly the answer she wanted to hear, she would have rather heard something along the lines of he didn't like them enough to stick around or whatever. "Once a bad boy, always a bad boy." She teased softly trying to keep the tone light.

He rolled his eyes. "Anyway. I'm willing to break that habit."

"Even though you've never slept with a girl more than once."

"Even that."

He was about to say something else when she blurted. "You're not just saying that because you're stuck here with me in this place and you don't really have any other choice? I mean of course you have a choice and you're not stuck physically, I mean you can still go out and find other wom…"

He cut her off with a kiss. "Hermione I'm not looking for anyone else right now, I want to be here." He said softly then smiled at her. "So what do you say, want to help me break my man whorish ways by being my first."

She chuckled, deciding to go along with a much lighter tone of conversation. "And if I say no?"

He set his hands on either side of her hips. "Are you going to say no?" he asked her leaning in closer.

"No." she whispered. "This is probably a really bad idea." She muttered out loud.

"But it feels so good." He whispered back before he kissed her.

Draco didn't know what they hell he was doing. Hermione pretty much just described him to the T and his whole strategy when dealing with the opposite sex. No he didn't do relationships, never even officially had a girlfriend…just dated casually, very casually. But the girls he spent time with usually knew that before getting involved with him. They all knew he was only looking for good time and that was it. And Hermione completely called him out on it; no one had ever done that before.

He didn't make romantic gestures, never gave someone flowers or spent time with them just because he wanted to, and he never did anything like cuddle after a good shag. Less emotion involved the better. And she was completely right; he had never slept with the same girl twice. It's not that he didn't want to, but it was just easier so the girls didn't get too attached and become clingy. Damn, that made him sound like a complete ass. And if he was honest, he never thought about any of that before or even cared about what the girls thought of him afterwards. He was selfish that way.

But hearing all of that come from Hermione and knowing that she knew of his 'moves', made him feel like a horrible person. And he didn't want her to think he was a jerk, he didn't want her to think badly of him. He was an idiot to think he could make a fresh clean start, and have her not know anything from his past, but here it is kicking him in the ass.

What got him the most was that really did care about what she thought of him and other things. He wanted to spend time with her just because, steal a kiss just because he could and felt like it, fall asleep holding her close and waking up the same way.

In fact he found out that he actually likes cuddling and really couldn't get enough of it, or maybe it was just her. He liked the feel of her body next to his, her legs tangled up with his, her hand curled on top of his chest, with her head resting against his shoulder as the tip of her nose nuzzled against his throat. Yeah he liked cuddling a lot.

And the fact that he had no desire to revert back to his old ways kind of scared him a bit. She was different from all the other girls and that threw him for a loop. And he didn't know what to do about it. He had no desire to seek out someone new or different because he already had his fill of Hermione Granger for one evening. Because the thing was, at least right now, he didn't think he could ever get enough of her.

The next morning, she could feel Draco nuzzling the back of her neck, the arm draped over her stomach kept drawing lazy circles with his fingers. She felt so lazy and content that it took major effort to pry her eyes open.

"Are you awake?" He whispered against her neck.

"Mmm" was all she managed as she stretched out her arms in front of her and stretched out her sore muscles.

She rolled over so she ended up facing him. How was it that he looked amazing in the morning and she probably looked…well awful.

"Hi." He smiled down at her.

"Hi." She said back, having a strong desire to run to the loo and brush her teeth, wash her face, possibly add a bit of makeup and comb her hair…really anything to make her feel somewhat presentable and attractive.

He smiled again, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. That faint morning light streaming through the window, highlighting his face. The look in his eye as he looked at her made her almost forget that she probably resembled a troll.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked.

She nodded. "How about you?" she asked shyly.

Ugh why couldn't just act normal around him. Most times she handled herself just fine. But when he looked at her like he's doing now, her mind goes blank.

"Yep I slept great." He nuzzled her cheek.

"What time do you have to be at practice?" she asked breathlessly as he moved back down kissing along the column of her neck.

"Not until nine."

"And what time is it now?" she asked figuring that they should probably get up and out of bed since he had to get going and Crissy would be up soon.

"Only 5:30."

She moaned and not because of what he was doing to her neck felt good. "It's only 5:30 in the morning? And you couldn't let me sleep for at least another hour."

Even he had to be tired, since they both only had about three maybe four hours of sleep, in between making love. She still couldn't believe he actually ended up talking her into having sex in the kitchen…the kitchen! For goodness sakes. She will never think of the countertops the same way again, fortunately it wasn't a spot where they prepared food or anything like that. She felt herself blushing just thinking about it. Afterwards he carried her back to bed, where they ended up making love again before finally falling back to sleep.

"Do you want to go back to sleep?" he asked her.

Not really now that she knew or at least had a pretty good feeling of what he had in mind. "No I guess not." She sighed dramatically.

"Good." He kissed her and began to show her exactly why it was a good thing.

Hermione was sitting in the kitchen feeding Crissy breakfast when Draco walked into the room; the ends of his hair still wet from his or…um their shower. They were just trying to conserve water of course. He smiled at her as he walked to the refrigerator. She couldn't help but blush at his attention. She should feel like a complete idiot, because since they've been here…not ever since they got partnered up in Candlewicks class, all she seemed to be doing lately is blush like an idiot every time he was in the room.

And now instead of feeling extreme dislike and annoyance around him. She felt giddy with nervous butterflies, extreme awareness that left goosebumps on her skin and a sense of happiness within that allowed her to be comfortable with herself. Something she never really had before with Ron and Harry, but with Draco it was different, better even. With Draco it felt a lot like love…and not the brotherly love she felt for Ron and Harry.

She watched him as he poured hot coffee into a mug. Did she love him, it was still way too soon to be sure, but yeah she did know that she was already in serious danger of falling…hard.

"So what are your plans for today?" Draco asked her turning around.

He caught her staring at him and she looked away before another blush could creep along her cheeks, "Uh, I don't know. I was wanting to go visit Ginny since her doctor put her on bed rest she must be going mad just sitting around all day, not allowed to do anything." She told him giving Crissy her last bite of yogurt.

Once it was gone she stood up and put the dirty dishes in the sink as well as get a wet towel to wipe off Crissy's sticky face and fingers. Draco caught her by the waist as she started to pass him and spun her around until she faced him.

"Sounds fun." He told her then kissed her.

"Shouldn't you be on your way?" she mumbled against his lips.

"Didn't we have this conversation yesterday?" he asked back.

"Well if you don't leave soon, then you'll be late. I'm pretty sure they give out detentions for being tardy to professional quidditch players, but I'm sure your coach would still appreciate it if you got to practice on time."

"Nah, I think you're just trying to get rid of me." He teased not letting go of her waist.

She shrugged and smiled not giving an actual verbal answer.

He chuckled in response. "Alright, alright I'm going." He stole one last kiss, this one deeper than the first. Resting his forehead against hers he said, "See you later tonight." He whispered and smiled down at her, a smile full of promises, promises he intended to fulfill once he got back for practice when they were alone again.

He let go of her and stepped towards Crissy dropping a kiss on top of her curly head. "See you later Princess."

"Don't fall off your broom." Hermione teased once she found her voice again.

Draco winked at her before apparating out of their kitchen. Once Draco was gone Hermione finally let her girl side take full rein. Giggling and doing a ridiculous little happy dance in the middle of the kitchen. Crissy just looked at her as if she had gone mad. And maybe she had, but at the moment she didn't care. Because Merlin help her, she decided once and for all, she was in love with Draco Malfoy.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, for taking soooo long to update. I've just been really busy...which is no excuse, but that's the truth. Also I was having a bit of writers block...I knew what I wanted to write, but I just couldn't seem to put the chapter into words...very frustrating. Anyway here it is, and I'm sorry it's short. I know what I want to write about in the next couple chapters, so hopefully updating will come much sooner than this chapter took. Again I'm sorry it took so long, you all probably hate me, and I'm sorry. But again I promise I'm not going to abandon this story, I have every intention of finishing it. So for those who stuck with me waiting patiently, thank you! And as always please keep reading and reviewing!<strong>


	19. Chapter 19: The Witch Named Gwen

Chapter Nineteen: The Witch Named Gwen

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling.

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><p>Hermione packed up their minivan and got Crissy and her diaper bag ready to go out for the day. She made sure to owl Ginny before stopping by to visit. Harry had already gone to work at the Ministry, but Ginny told her to come on by.<p>

On the way to Ginny's house they stopped at a video store and picked up some girly chick-flicks that they could watch with the boys out and also stopped by a local bakery and deli and got some fresh baked cupcakes that she couldn't resist buying, as well as some homemade soup.

Since Ginny know they were coming by, she let the wards down to allow them access into their home, since Ginny wasn't allowed to be up and about on her feet.

Hermione let herself in through the front door, locking it behind her. It was a miracle that she managed to carry Crissy and her bag plus all the food she brought along with her in one trip.

Setting the soup down in the kitchen, Hermione took Crissy and the cupcakes into the living room where Ginny laid out on the oversized sofa looking like an Arabian princess surround by all kinds of pillows in different shapes and sizes…well an Arabian princess wearing sweatpants and an oversize t-shirt. She was sitting on a big fluffy down comforter that practically swallowed her whole where the pillows didn't.

"Knock, knock. I come bearing cupcakes and movies." Hermione said walking into the living room.

"Oh thank Merlin, I love you." Ginny told her, reaching out for the cupcakes.

Hermione went back to the kitchen to grab some napkins and plates, as well as two glasses filled with pumpkin juice. And walked back to the living room taking a seat in a chair next to the sofa.

"I also brought some soup in case you're hungry for something else, but I figured you would want dessert first." She smiled at Ginny, handing her a glass of pumpkin juice.

"Always." Ginny said with her mouth full of frosting.

Hermione giggled. "So how are you holding up?" she asked her as she rooted through Crissy's bag and pulled out a soft blanket that she laid on the floor by her feet and some toys for Crissy to play with.

"Ugh, going out of my mind. The doctor only wants me getting up to use the loo or to shower, but other than that he wants me off my feet as much as possible. And well Harry took his word for it. He practically carries me down her every morning and commands that I call him if I so much as has to pee or any other reason I need to get up and do something. This is completely absurd, because I need to pee like every ten minutes."

"I know the feeling." Hermione muttered.

"He treats me like I'm a fragile water balloon about to pop."

Hermione raised an eyebrow up at her and smirked.

"Okay so maybe, I am like a water balloon. But all I have left is one more week or less than before he's full term and ready to come out." Ginny said rubbing her belly.

"Are you in any kind of pain?" Hermione asked her, sliding down to the flood to play with Crissy, who was busy crawling all over the place.

"Not anymore, I was having some early contractions a few days ago, hence the need to go on bed rest. But I'm fine now as long as I stay still, but I've been sitting so still lately, that this sofa practically has a permanent imprint of my bum." She giggled. "But even if I am up and about I'm okay, no pain."

"Good, that's good."

"So enough about me, tell me about you? Is there a reason why you're practically glowing today, other than the fact that you have a bun in the oven?" Ginny asked her reaching over to grab another cupcake.

Hermione blushed, not sure how much to reveal. She wanted to tell Ginny everything, but not sure how to without revealing too much about her and Draco's predicament. How was she to tell her best friend that she lost her virginity last night to someone who used to be her enemy, even though she has actually been married to the man for at least 4 years now?

"Wait, what is that on the side of your neck?" Ginny asked.

Hermione reached up to her neck trying to figure out what she was talking about. "What?"

"That." Ginny pointed to her right side. "Just below your ear…wait a minute, is that..." Ginny giggled. "Is that a hickey?"

"What!" Hermione reached into her purse and grabbed a compact mirror and held it up to her face. "Oh bugger." Sure enough there was a red splotch on the right side of her neck, just below her ear. "How did I miss that this morning?"

"I guess someone got lucky last night." Ginny wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

And this morning, she thought, her face flamed up.

"Oh look at you blush. I haven't seen you blush since we were teenagers."

Hermione blushed harder still, examining the hickey on the side of her neck. Did he do that on purpose?

"At least one of us is getting some." Ginny sighed dramatically. "Harry won't touch me, thinks I'll automatically go into labor if he does. And then the doctor say we can't have sex for at least three months after the baby's born. How long did you and Draco wait after Crissy was born?

"Oh um…a couple of months I guess, but then we were both so busy with Crissy that we were always just too tired to do anything else anyway."

Damn she hated lying like this, although there was probably some truth to that, Crissy's birth wasn't exactly under normal circumstances and it took a large toll on her body, what with being tortured by Draco's father and all.

"Just wait, soon you'll have your hand full with the baby, you'll be too busy to do anything else. But then again you'll be so happy and full of joy that it won't matter in the end."

"Yeah I can't wait." Ginny smiled wishfully rubbing her swollen belly.

Hermione watched Ginny in envy. Ginny had gotten exactly what she wanted in life; the man she had been crushing on for years, a family of her very own with the love of her life. Whereas Hermione's life or future hadn't gone at all as she planned or at least envisioned for herself. She certainly never imagined Draco being the one and only for her, let alone start a life and family with him. But yet somehow it worked and she was happy. And they had a beautiful girl to prove it, she thought stroking Crissy's blonde curls.

"How did you know?"

Ginny looked up from her stomach. "Hmm?"

"How did you know…when you fell in love with Harry? How did you know you loved him?"

"Oh well let's see, well as you know it was pretty much love at first sight for me at least. And then during my first year at Hogwarts when the Chamber of Secrets opened by Tom Riddle and Harry saved me, well the feeling just grew stronger since. But he never felt the same way for me, at least not in the beginning. And then one day he finally saw me for the first time and not as Ron's baby sister, but as me, Ginevra Molly Weasley the woman. And I don't know it just clicked from there and we've been inseparable since. I've always know I loved him."

"What do you think makes him different from the other guys you've seen before him? Ugh never mind I don't even know what I'm asking." Hermione shook her head.

"Haha, no I think I understand. It's all about the little things. I guess I really knew that he was the one for me, when even through the bad and ugly stuff; he was always there for me and me him. Even when we fight we still can't stand to be apart from one another." She sighed. "Like I said I've always known. And once I knew he felt the same way, my feelings for him just multiplied and I couldn't help myself. Harry makes me laugh and smile, but he also infuriates me and annoys me. But nothing can stop us from spending the rest of our lives with one another. "Til death do us part," as muggles say. But like I said, it's all about the small stuff; like your heart pounding like mad every time he looks at you, and how you can't wait to see him at the end of the day, and how you can be in the same room together and not speak a word to one another and yet feel completely comfortable in each other's presence, and how you can talk about anything and yet nothing at all and still understand each other. Does that make since?"

Hermione nodded. "Yeah I think I do. Like when you know the second he walks in the room without having to turn around because you get tingles and goosebumps along your skin."

"Mmmm." Ginny nodded. "Why all the talk about love and what not? Are you and Draco…okay?" Ginny asked.

"Hmm, oh yeah, we're fine, I was just…reminiscing I guess." Hermione told her with a flip of her hand hoping Ginny would drop it so she wouldn't have to keep lying to her best friend. "It's just pregnancy hormones I guess. I forgot how crazy they can make you feel some times, like constantly second guessing stuff and finding things that aren't there. It's like sometimes I find myself arguing about something really stupid with him just because I can. And stuff that's completely pointless, but I do it anyway."

Ginny nodded. "You're talking about Gwen right?" She asked.

Uh no, not really and she didn't want to think about her either.

"Pansy mentioned her that other day, about how the two of you practically gotten into a cat fight when trying to help Draco after he fell off his broom during the game a few days ago."

"Well she was practically groping him and stripping him at the same time, right in front of me. Claiming she was "checking for injuries" that tart. And Draco is completely oblivious to her attraction to him. Says she's just doing her job. And as far as I know a quidditch manager's job isn't to strut around the pitch in stripper heels and tight skirts and take Draco out on dinner "meetings" where it just happens to be the two of them…alone on these "meetings"."

"You don't think he's cheating on you with her, do you?"

"No I don't, but I know she wants to sink her claws in to him."

"Have you talked to Draco about this?"

"Yeah, but he's not worried and says I shouldn't worry either. And that she means nothing to him, she's just his manager and that's it."

"Yeah he loves you too much to do something stupid like get with her. I mean surely he knows you'll hex him on the spot if he ever did."

She blushed at that, not because she was embarrassed that Ginny was right and her temper would get the best of her if Draco ever did something like that. But because Ginny claimed Draco loved her, if only that were true.

They continued to sit and talk about their 'old' school days and unfortunately Hermione hadn't found out anything new about how she and Draco really got together, other than the fact that, that they had a class together and we're partnered up on a project, and apparently had been inseparable since. This was pretty much what Pansy said the other day.

She did find out that Ginny had no problem with her dating Draco when she got together with him, but with Harry and Ron it took a bit of time for them to warm up to him and the fact that he was a Malfoy. She told Ginny about her interesting day shopping with Pansy and how she had to sit through hours of watching Pansy try on over a hundred wedding dresses, even down to the part when she took her shopping for lingerie.

They managed to finish off the dozen of cupcakes she brought over before even touching the soup. And watched a couple of movies together, before Harry came home for work. The three of sat and talked for bit, before Hermione packed up her and Crissy's stuff and headed home for the night. She hugged Harry and Ginny goodbye and promised to make dinner plans with them soon.

She had a craving for Chinese food, again, especially egg rolls, and Draco would be home soon and probably hungry as well. She called the restaurant and put in her order, she would pick up their dinner on the way home.

Draco had a grueling day at practice, instead of his normal routine of practicing catching and searching for the snitch, the coach had some sort of trainer come in and the whole team had to participate in this 'all team workout' where they ran laps and hit the gym all day, lifting weights and using muscles he didn't know he had.

It didn't help that he was already exhausted from having little to no sleep the night before. A smile crept up his face, thinking what he did last night and this morning. Who knew bookworm Hermione Granger was so fantastic in the sack. He absolutely couldn't get enough of her, she was like a addiction that he couldn't quite overcome, but then again he didn't want to. And the best part was she's willing to continue on with this, and no school rules or prefects that they had to sneak around from here. Here they could do whatever they wanted, where ever and whenever they wanted. Merlin, he was getting turned on just thinking about all the possibilities.

He quickly apparated home, where he hoped Hermione waited for him, preferably with dinner, because he was starving. Unfortunately he apparated to a dark empty house. No Hermione or Crissy and no dinner. She must still be at the Weaslette's…or uh Ginny's house. Hermione didn't like that he called her friend Weaslette. But some habits are hard to break. He put his gear bag away in the closet and stripped out of his practice robes and quickly showered, then made his way back to the kitchen wearing a pair of old muggle jeans and no shirt.

He went over to the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water. He thought about throwing something together to eat, when he heard a pop of someone apparating in behind him.

"Hey sexy. I've been waiting for you. Have you eaten dinner yet?" he turned around to face Hermione, except… "Oh Gwen, I thought you were Hermione."

"Hmm pity. It would have been nice to be called sexy from someone as attractive as you and to answer your question, no I haven't had dinner yet." She told him with a coy smile.

"Oh I'm sure you've been called sexy a time or two from many men."

"Yeah, but not from anyone of importance." She stepped closer and frowned, but he could tell she was joking.

"So what brings you here tonight? We didn't have a meeting or something planned did we?"

"No, but I am curious as to who you plan to play for. You've been very mum, about your decision. Have you've chosen yet?"

"I've been thinking about it, but no I haven't made a definite decision yet. I still need to talk it through with Hermione and get her take on it."

Gwen rolled her eyes. "It's not exactly her decision to make. It's your life, your career. Not hers, why would you need her opinion about it?"

"Because she's my wife and we have a family together. And I…we need to decide what the best course is for our family is. And if that means staying with the Bats, so be it or if choosing to play for the Cannons is the better path. Whatever it is, we decide together as a family."

Gwen huffed out a sigh. "If you want my honest opinion. I think Granger is holding you back. She doesn't know the sport like you and I do. So honestly why would her opinion matter one way or the other. She writes books. And if I remember correctly she doesn't even like to fly."

"It matters to me, her opinion is important to me." What Gwen was saying was starting to piss him off.

"Fine, but I still think she's holding your back or will eventually. _Witch Weekly_ actually wanted to put you in their list of the sexiest wizard bachelors, but unfortunately you didn't qualify, because well you're not a bachelor."

"I don't care about a magazine article. That has nothing to do with my career."

"I know I know. But honestly how many professional quidditch players, do you know of that are married? Not very many. And the ones who do usually end up leaving the sport, because there are too many complications and distractions. And being a seeker, you need to be focused 100 percent. You can't be worrying about whether or not you've fed the baby or some other insignificant thing like that. You can't have distractions. Especially if you go play for the Cannons. Then you'll have a long commute back and forth, and again like I said you can't afford to lose your focus. And for the record being in a magazine article has everything to do with your career. It's all about publicity, and popularity and without it you won't have fans. And fans don't want to worship someone who is being dragged by the old ball and chain and isn't readily available for their pleasure."

"So what exactly are you saying? Do you want me to leave my wife and child for my career?" Draco asked her tightly crossing his arms over his chest.

"No of course not. I'm just trying to say, keep your options open." She told him taking another step closer to him. "But anyway enough about all of that, I really came here to check to see how you were doing since you're injury a couple of days ago."

"I'm fine, the healer already checked me over and gave me the okay." He told her, wanting to get rid of her.

"I know, but I still would like to see and check myself." She took another step towards him, boxing him up against the cabinets, but she tripped over her heels and pitched forward.

He reached out and caught her, before she face planted into the floor. She grabbed onto his biceps and clung to him, plastering her body against his as she righted herself and stood up to her full height.

"Well it seems your reflexes are still as strong and fast as ever." She told him not letting go of him or taking a step back, and if he wasn't mistaken she clung to him more. "I can see you don't have any bruising left." She told him, her voice dropping down to a sultry whisper.

"How would you know, you didn't even look."

"Yes well it was hard not to notice, since you made my job so much easier, by not wearing a shirt." Her hands ran down his chest slowly, bumping her hips against his. "Are you tender or sensitive anywhere?" she whispered as her hands continued to roam over his torso.

"Nope." He told her through clenched teeth and tried to look just about anywhere but her, because if he looked down at her, he would also be able to look down the front of her blouse, which was already extremely low cut to begin with and damn it he was not going to be charmed, let alone get turned on by this woman.

Her fingers trailed dangerously low, to the waist band of his jeans. Shit he needed to stop this now before he did something he would regret. He cleared his throat and tried to shift away from her, but she had him trapped between the kitchen counter and her body.

"Gwen. I think it's best if you leave now."

"Not just yet. I still have one last question." She all but purred to him, looking up at him through her eye lashes.

"What?" he asked tightly as her fingers dipped, just barely beneath his waistband.

"Why her? Why would you choose to be with someone like Granger? I always thought you would end up with someone more worthy of the Malfoy name. If you don't mind me saying, I think you could do much better. In fact I know you can do much better."

"Gwen." He warned, bringing his hands up to push her away, when a noise to his right distracted him, catching him off guard.

Big mistake. Gwen took that moment of weakness and grabbed his face so he faced her once again and smashed her lips to his. In not just any kiss, but a full fledge snog, wild, open mouthed and hungry. He tried to pull away, push her away, anything, but she was latched onto his like a leech. That was until a loud crash in the kitchen distracted her enough to pull away from him.

He looked over to his right, already dreading what he was about to see. Hermione stood there pale with a look of hurt and anger in her face, holding Crissy in her arms, and a mess of Chinese food on the floor at her feet. She stared at him with tears in her eyes. He was about to explain when she whipped out her wand and marched towards him. The hurt look of betrayal in her eyes now turned to fury. She walked right past him to Gwen and pointed her want right at her chest.

"Get out of my house before I hex you out. And if you _ever_ set foot here again you'll be sorry." Hermione told her through clenched teeth, all while holding Crissy on her hip.

Gwen smirked at her, then apparated out of their kitchen without a word.

Hermione left the kitchen without glancing at him, taking Crissy with her.

"Hermione." He tried to stop her, but she kept walking.

She walked to Crissy's nursery, called for Ziggy and asked her to stay with her, then left heading back to the kitchen.

"Hermione wait." He tried to grab her arm, but she whirled around and slapped him hard across his cheek, he didn't even flinch.

"Don't. I don't want to hear what you have to say." She hissed at him, tears forming in her eyes.

"Just let me explain, please." He tried to step closer to her, knowing full well that she still held her wand in her hand and could easily do her worst to him, right here and now.

"Explain what? That fact that you were sucking face with that witch. Who you told me you didn't have any feelings for."

"I don't. She kissed me; I had nothing to do with it." He tried to explain.

Hermione crossed her arms and glared at him. "Yes well you seemed like you had nothing to do with it." She told him sarcastically. "Actually it looked to me that you were rather enjoying it, because from what I saw you weren't exactly trying to push her away." She swiped at her eyes angrily.

He stepped closer, but she took a step back.

"Don't" she whispered.

"Please Hermione you have to believe me."

She shook her head. "How could you?" Her voice sounded raw. "How could you do something like this after last night? You know how important that was for me." She wiped her leaking eyes again. "I thought you changed, but I was wrong. You're still the same guy you were back in Hogwarts. Just looking for a good time, not caring who you hurt along the way."

"No Hermione, I'm not that same guy. Not anymore. Please you have to believe me. Gwen just showed up unexpected and threw herself at me. And I know that sounds completely cliché, but it's true. I don't like Gwen, like that. I don't want to be with her. And last night was important and special for me too. You weren't just some girl I slept with."

Hermione looked away and chewed on her bottom lip, her face red and tear stained. "I need to leave." She whispered so softly he almost didn't hear her.

"You don't have to leave, honey."

She looked at him and glared. "You got to leave and have your moment alone when you found out about your father, let me have mine." She told him once again furious at him.

He didn't argue. "Where are you going to go?" he asked softly.

"I don't know. I just need time to think, I'll be back in the morning. Please make sure Crissy's gets fed and bathed before she goes to bed."

"Hermione please don't go. I'll leave if that's what you want."

She shook her head. "No I need to do this. Give Crissy a kiss goodnight for me."

He didn't even try to touch her, knowing she wouldn't accept it if he did. He just nodded and watched as she apparated away. Well fuck he really screwed up this time.

Hermione went to the first place she could think of. Home, or well her parents' home, her childhood home. She apparated into the back yard where she wouldn't be seen by muggles. The house was dark and empty. Walking up to the back door, she took out her wand and unlocked the door, letting herself in.

The house looked and smelled the same as it always had. Except for the noises. The house was quiet, since her parents were still in Florida, so she was alone. So painfully and completely alone. She walked right past the living room, past the kitchen, went up the stairs and straight to her bedroom. Not bothering to turn on any lights along the way. Throwing herself onto her old bed she cried to hard she could hardly breathe.

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><p>AN: I know you all are really mad at me right now, for the oh so lovely ending to this chapter as well as for the long wait. Again I'm really sorry it took me so long to update, but I've just been really busy lately. And as for the ending, well you'll just have to keep reading to find out what happens next. But don't worry this story will have a happy ending I promise. So as always please keep reading and reviewing. I'll try to get the next chapter up soon.<p> 


	20. Chapter 20: Sleepness Nights

Chapter Twenty: Sleepness Nights

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling.

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><p>That rat fink bastard! How could he do this to her? She should have known better, why did she ever think he changed so quickly. She should have never trusted him. Ugh, she should've known he would go after someone like Gwen, or better yet, she should've known Gwen would go after him. That blonde bimbo slut. She should've hexed her until her hair fell out or grew warts and turned her skin green like the real witch she is.<p>

She tossed and turned on her queen size bed in her bed…her old bedroom. Tears all dried out. She became even more pissed and angry at Draco, because she came to the horrifying conclusion that she couldn't even sleep without the bloody bastard next to her.

A new batch of tears formed in her eyes. Damn it, why her, why did he have to go and kiss her? Damn it, where was her pickle ice cream when she needed it?

When she became all cried out and realized sleep wasn't going to happen, she sat up in bed and looked around her old childhood bedroom. It looked almost exactly the same as she saw it last, before she got on the train that took her to Hogwarts for her last year of school. Hogwarts and Gryffindor banners and posters covered her walls. She noticed her school trunk at the end of her bed. Pictures; muggle and magical moving pictures of her friends hung on the walls and sat on shelves on her bookcase.

A stack of old textbooks lay in a neat pile next to her small white wicker desk that matched the headboard of her bed. A picture of her and Draco sat on the nightstand. They looked sicken-ly happy together. She huffed out a sigh. Young and in love, what a load of flubber worms.

She out of bed and went over to her closet. When she pulled it open she noticed that she had all of her school uniforms from the previous years. Why she kept them all, she had no idea. She found her very first uniform from first year. It was hanging up in the back. She took it out and looked at it. It was so tiny, she couldn't believe it was so little, that she was so little back then.

She smiled remembering the first time she stepped inside Hogwarts. She was so excited and a little nervous at the same time. She was surprised she hadn't burst back than from all the excitement and nerves she experienced that day. And in less than eleven years, Crissy will be attending Hogwarts for the first time wearing a similar uniform. She put the uniform back in the closet. She wanted to change her clothes, but she knew that nothing in her closet or dresser would fit her anymore, knowing her belly continued to grow a little bit each day. She put her hand over her rounded stomach and felt the tiny flutter beneath her fingertips as her baby boy kicked.

She sighed; maybe she overreacted when she saw Gwen and Draco together. Maybe he was telling the truth and she came on to him. But then again Gwen is blonde and gorgeous and any man would want to go after her, while she is just plain and mousy, there wasn't much competition.

She sighed again. Regardless Gwen is a bitch, who knew Draco was married and yet she went after him anyway. Normal responsible people don't do things like that. Maybe she should go back to the house, she couldn't sleep here, the house was too quiet and she didn't like it.

And she never got to say goodnight to Crissy before she left…no, she left to have some space. Space she could probably use. Besides it wouldn't hurt to have Draco take full responsibly over Crissy and the house for one night. Besides he got to have his one night away, after he heard about his father. So she should be allowed to have hers.

Now what could she do to pass the time? Her mother did tell her to start packing up the house, so they could put stuff in storage and sell the house. Another wave of sadness hit at the thought of selling her childhood home. She looked around her room once again. She grew up here. There were even markings on the doorjamb of how tall she had grown each year, starting when she was only two years old.

But in a way this wasn't her house anymore, it was her parents' house. And knew they decided to move to Florida permanently. She left her bedroom and went down stairs to the living room. Maybe she could start there with the packing.

Once she got to the living room and looked around, she realized that packing was going to be a lot harder than she thought. She walked over to the mantle and noticed even more pictures. A couple of her with her mum and dad, and a few of her when she was younger. There was one of her and Draco at their wedding, and a couple of Crissy. She decided to start there. She took them off the mantle and set them in a neat pile on the coffee table. Obviously the pictures were going to be in the 'keep pile.'

Next she turned to the bookshelf. Where there were books of all genres, nearly all of them were muggle classics as well as some romance novels her mother enjoyed so much, and a few crime novels her dad liked. On one shelf were books and textbooks on dentistry. Her father liked to collect anything he could find on his profession. Thankfully all he liked to collect were books and other references to the history of dentistry instead of actual dental instruments like drills and scalpels from the early 1900's. Hermione shuddered at that thought.

This was going to be harder than she thought, if it were up to her she would keep everything, but then again she wasn't called a bookworm for nothing. She has been known to never throw away any book she has owned.

She walked over to the small writing desk they had against one of the walls and rooted around in the drawers until she found an old notebook and a pen to write with. The easiest and most organized way to do this is to make an inventory list of everything they had, and then she could sort it all into different categories or piles as it were. But still the question was, what was she going to sell or get rid of and what was she going to keep besides the photographs?

She found a camera in the desk as well, which was perfect. It was a muggle digital camera so she didn't need film or anything to get it to work. And to be extra efficient she could make a list of all the items as well as take pictures of each item. That way she could send the pictures to her parents and make them decide what they wanted to do with each item. Since right now it seemed like every item had some kind of sentimental value to it.

She started to make a list of all the books on the shelf as well as the bookcase itself, and then took a picture of each shelf making sure that all the titles of the books were clearly visible in each shot. The books were still a mystery, one she didn't know which pile or category to put them in. And the bookcase, well she was going to put that in the keep pile, because one could always use a sturdy bookcase.

All pictures and photo albums automatically went into the keep pile. The furniture in the room again was something she wasn't sure of, but she still categorized them and took pictures.

She ended up making another list, one of all the things she was unsure of, things she needed to consult with her parents first before making a final decision. She thought it would be easier, making a list and piles of things but, it was becoming a bit OCD and if she wasn't careful it would become an even bigger mess then what she started out with. Normal people probably wouldn't make a list of every single thing a person owned as well as take a picture of every single thing, but she felt that if she didn't then it would mess up her whole system…and then she would have to start over, which would be good.

Once she finished the living room she moved on to the kitchen. She ended up having to throw out most of the food that was left over. Of course her parents didn't leave anything perishable in the house, but what was left over had either expired or had gone stale.

She made a list of all of the dishes and flatware including the fine china that had been pasted down in her mother's family for years, of course that was going into the keep pile. She went into the garage and found an empty box and some old newspapers she could use to help pack. She went back into the kitchen and started carefully packing the china into the box. Once she finished that she levitated the box and gently put it in the keep pile in the living room.

She managed to get the first floor of the house finished, except for the garage that would have to be left for another day. She sat down on the sofa in the living room and went over the lists and notes she made, which took up almost two whole notebooks worth of paper.

She should've been tired, but she wasn't. She was restless. There was always the upstairs that needed to be done, but she didn't feel like doing more packing and categorizing. Besides she needed to take a break, there was no sense in overexerting herself.

She rubbed a hand over her stomach. It didn't help that she was starving. The Chinese food that she left splattered on the floor of the kitchen after she found Draco and Gwen was a long lost memory. The food left over at her parents' house was…well less to be desired. The only things left that were edible were canned items, like canned beans and canned ham. Being pregnant and all, she's the first to admit, that she had pretty bizarre tastes in food, but the idea of canned beans and ham just left her feeling nauseous.

Her parents did leave a car, but her father had dismantle the battery or some other such nonsense and she didn't know much about cars to put it back together and besides she doubted anything would be left open at this hour of the night. Damn it she was hungry. Ugh she didn't want to do it, but she didn't see any other way.

She took a deep breath, "Ziggy."

A pop sounded to her left. "How may Ziggy help Mrs. Hermione?"

Ugh Hermione felt awful, this was everything she fought against concerning house elves. "I'm so sorry to call you so late Ziggy."

"Tis okay. Ziggy wasn't busy."

"Well the thing is, I seemed to skip dinner and well I'm a bit puckish and I can't find anything to eat here. Is there any way you could fix something for me?" she asked Ziggy feeling embarrassed. "I know it's extremely late and I really apologize if you were sleeping. And I wouldn't have asked if it wasn't an emergency." Ziggy waited patiently while Hermione continued her ranting. "Anyway I would really appreciate it and I would be eternally grateful."

Ziggy smiled. "Of course what would Mrs. Hermione like for Ziggy to make?"

"Taco's" Hermione replied sheepishly.

Ziggy winked at Hermione and then popped out of sight. Ten seconds later Ziggy popped back holding a plate full of tacos.

"Oh bless you Ziggy. Thank you so much." she told the house elf, taking the plate from her.

"Anything else Mrs. Hermione requires of Ziggy?"

"No thank you…or actually there is one tiny thing. Can you pop over to the house and check on Crissy, make sure she's okay?"

"Of course, would you like Ziggy to check on Master Draco as well?"

"Oh, um well…" Hermione paused did she really want to know what he was doing? "I suppose that would be alright, but don't let him see you."

Ziggy nodded and then popped out of sight again.

Hermione took a bite from a taco and moaned in pleasure. Ziggy made the best tacos ever. A couple minutes later and two tacos later Ziggy popped back in.

"Little Miss Crissy is fast asleep in her crib. And Master Draco is pacing in the living room. He looks distraught, though Ziggy don't know why."

"I see, well thank you for checking on them Ziggy. That's all for now. Get some rest and I'll see you later."

"Thank you Mrs. Hermione." Ziggy bowed then popped out of the room leaving Hermione once again alone.

A heavy weight set in the pit of her stomach. Good Draco should be distraught; he had every right to be. Then why was she feeling so bad about it?

Draco couldn't sleep, after tossing and turning for an hour he gave up and went to the living room to watch some TV. Nothing on it caught his interest so he started pacing. This was ridiculous, he couldn't sleep, and he couldn't eat. If this was what it was like to be in a relationship then he wanted out. Who would possibly want to put up with this all of the time? Because he was certain this wouldn't be the only row that they would get into, since they were always arguing about something or another.

Merlin, why was he even getting angry…it was his fault Hermione left, his fault that Hermione got hurt, his fault he let Gwen kiss him. If he was going to be angry, it was going to be at himself. He sat down on the sofa with a thud, and raked his hands through his hair just as Ziggy popped into the room.

"So how is she?" Draco asked her with his face in his hands.

"Mrs. Hermione is eating tacos that Ziggy made for her. And Ziggy did as you asked and didn't tell her that you saw me."

Draco caught Ziggy spying on him and he managed to get her to fess up that Hermione sent her to check on them. He asked Ziggy to do the same for him and check on her.

"Good Ziggy but how is she? Did she still seem upset?"

"No Mrs. Hermione seems okay, tired but okay."

"So where is she exactly?"

Ziggy looked at the ground, shuffling her feet. "I don't think Mrs. Hermione wants Ziggy to tell you."

"I won't tell her you told me anything. You won't get in trouble." He swallowed then gritted. "Please."

"Promise Ziggy won't get in trouble?"

"Of course you won't get in trouble Ziggy. I promise."

"Mrs. Hermione is at the Grangers house."

He let out a breath. "Thank you Ziggy, you may go." Ziggy blinked out of sight.

He had no idea where there house was other than the fact that it was somewhere in England. Not that he planned on going there. He gave Hermione his word that he wouldn't disturb her. That he would give her space. But at least she was safe…and hungry. She couldn't be that upset if she was chowing down on tacos. He allowed a small smile to appear on his lips. She loved eating tacos that one.

He leaned back in the sofa and pinched the bridge of his nose. He had to figure out what the hell he was going to do. He already decided he was going to stay playing for the Bats. Playing for the Cannons would have been a great opportunity, but he just couldn't do it. Not with a family, not that having a family was holding him back. He just felt better staying with the Bats. It was a gut instinct and he always followed his gut instincts.

But now he had to figure out what he was going to do with Gwen. The obvious answer would be to fire her. Hermione would probably never forgive him if he didn't fire her. But then who would he get to replace Gwen? Her father who used to be his manager had gone into retirement. And well he didn't want to cause anymore drama by keeping it in the family as it were. He rubbed at his eyes he was too tired and frustrated to think about any of this now.

Just then he heard a soft fussy noise coming from Crissy's bedroom, which meant Crissy was awake. Draco stood up from where he was sitting on the sofa and stretched before heading to the door leading to Crissy's nursery.

He cracked the door open and peaked inside, just in case he was mistaken and Crissy wasn't awake. But sure enough she was. She was standing on her own peeking out over the top of her crib. Her curly mop of hair sticking out in all directions from sleep. She clutched the tail of her stuffed dragon in one hand, while the other gripped the top rail of her crib for support. Her chubby baby fat cheeks were flushed and tear stained.

"Aw, Princess what's the matter?" He walked over to her crib, the soft glow of her night light helped illuminate the way.

"Dada." She reached up as he got closer.

He did as she silently asked and picked her up and held her close. She took her dragon 'Gaga' with her and nestled in close to Draco. He did all the necessary checks one was supposed to do when a young baby was fussy. No need for a diaper change, no fever or any other signs of sickness, and he didn't think she was hungry since she ate all of her dinner only a couple of hours ago. But just in case he carried her out to the kitchen and prepared a bottle of mile for her.

They walked back towards the nursery. When they got to the door Crissy pointed down the hallway towards Hermione's and his bedroom.

"Mama?"

Draco sighed. "I'm sorry Princess she's not here." He could see the tears well up in her eyes and her bottom lip start to tremble.

"Mama?"

"Oh no sweetheart don't do that. Mama will be home real soon." He told her hugging her closer and rubbing her back. Even if I have to drag her back myself, he thought to himself.

Tears were falling fast and hard now. She cried into his shoulder leaving a wet spot on his t-shirt. He walked into the nursery and sat down on the rocking chair that was in the corner of the room. Oh what was that muggle song Hermione always sang to her to calm her down at night? He couldn't remember, not that it would help anyway if he did, because he couldn't sing or carry a tune to save his life.

Merlin it broke his heart to see her cry like this, and he had no idea what to do to make it stop. Out of desperation he ended up humming a Weird Sisters song he heard Blaise playing in their dormitory before he and Hermione ended up here.

Crissy stopped crying and looked up at him with her big bright brown eyes. He didn't know the words but he knew the melody well enough, so he went with it. Crissy grabbed her stuffed dragon and hugged it to her chest as she snuggled into his arms as he rocked back and forth in the rocking chair.

Within minutes her eyes fluttered shut and she became sound asleep. He continued rocking back and forth not wanting to make any sudden moments and wake her up again.

He still couldn't believe that she was his. This beautiful tiny little bundle was his. He didn't love anything except maybe his own mother, but other than her he didn't do love. But Crissy absolutely stole his heart, and he couldn't imagine loving anything more than her.

He just sat there and watched her sleep. Merlin but she looked just like Hermione, from her wild crazy hair, to the turned up tip of her nose. Even her eyelashes were like Hermione's, thick and long. Long enough to brush along the tops of her cheeks as she slept.

After about an hour or so his arm began to fall asleep so he as gently as possible go up from the chair and laid Crissy down in her crib. He didn't feel like leaving to go to bed himself so he quietly sat back down in the rocking chair and listened to Crissy breathing. But soon his own eyelids betrayed him and he too fell asleep.

Hermione woke up with a horrible crick in her neck, she glanced at the clock on the mantle, and it was five thirty in the morning. She must have fallen asleep on the sofa after her late night dinner that Ziggy provided.

She sat up and looked around the living room. Merlin what a mess, she had made piles of stuff all over the living room. What had she been thinking when she had tried to organize and pack everything, when she been restless and couldn't sleep.

Was it too early to go back home? She would give anything to have at least another hour of sleep on her…um their king size pillow top mattress. Hopefully Draco will have practice again today so she could avoid him for a bit, while she tries to sort everything out a bit more.

She was hungry again, but she already knew there was no food, at least any that she found edible to her liking in the house. She'll just have to wait until she got back to eat.

Searching around the house to make sure she got everything, not that she brought anything with her when she got here last night. She walked out the house through the back door and made sure it was locked up tight. She was about to walk towards the center of the yard where she could apparate when a certain flower…or weed bush caught her eye.  
>Of course how could she have forgotten? She planted a small bush of fluxweed the summer of her sixth year, knowing Harry would go on the search for Horcruxes. And she planted the bush so they could have an ample supply to make Polyjuice potion since fluxweed wasn't always the easiest ingredient to come by.<p>

She couldn't believe after all of these years it still existed. She was sure it would have either died, from her lack of gardening skills or her mother would have plucked it out, mistaking it for an actual weed.

Of course she couldn't take a few stems now, because it has to be cut or harvested on the night of a full moon when it's in full bloom for the potion. She'll have to look on the calendar to see exactly when the next full moon will be and then make sure to come back and get it.

Thinking of Polyjuice ingredients, she still needed leeches. She shivered; this was her least favorite part other than drinking it. Leeches always freaked her out, even more than de-flubbing flubber worms.

There was a small pond just beyond the fence at the far end of their backyard. She knew there were leeches in it, because when she was about four, she and her dad crossed the fence wanting to see the ducks play in the water. Her dad let her stick her feet in. She remembered the bottom of the pond being cold and slimy with muck. She had only been standing in it for no more than five minutes and when she stepped out; she had at least three leeches stuck to her skin.

The scariest part was when her father had to burn them off with a lit match. Since then she had never stepped foot into the pond again.

She walked back into the house and into the garage where she knew her mother had a whole box of empty mason jars for when she tried to make a hobby of making her own jams and jellies. Needless to say, her hobby didn't last long.

She grabbed a couple of jars and went back outside once again locking up the house and making sure the wards she had set were back in place.

The sun was just starting to give off more light, making the early fog disappear. She made her way across the yard and to the pond. Once she got there, she was a bit disappointed; the pond didn't seem as big as she remembered. But hopefully there would still be the slimy little blood suckers in there.

Standing at the very edge of the pond, she squatted down and scooped some water into the jar, then took out her wand.

"Accio leeches," she said with a flick of her wand.

She kept doing that until she had five leeches in her jar. Making sure the lid was on tightly she walked back to the yard and apparated home.

Draco woke up early; his entire body ached from sleeping in the rocking chair. Crissy was still sound asleep in her crib. The sun was barely peaking up over the horizon. He quietly left the nursery, trying not to wake Crissy.

He looked down the hallway towards their bedroom. His body craved to sleep a few more hours on the soft mattress, but his brain was still running a mile a minute.

He walked into the kitchen and started the coffee maker, another muggle devise that he was learning to like a lot. From the silence of the house he took it that meant Hermione had not yet returned.

Once he managed to get a full cup of coffee into his system, he grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill…or um pen and began to write a letter to Gwen informing her that her services as his manage are no longer needed and that she is officially sacked.

He thought about sending her a howler, but thought better of it. He had his owl send it right away. He probably should have fired her in person, but he didn't want to see her again, especially since it would most likely upset Hermione.

Merlin, where was she. It was almost six in the morning and she still hadn't returned. He filled up another cup of coffee for himself, and then leaned against the counter staring into the dark brown liquid when he heard a pop.

He jerked his head up and looked at this wife as she apparated in. He set down the mug so hard the hot liquid sloshed over the side and onto the countertop.

"Hermione."

She looked at him surprised. "Oh, I didn't think you would be awake."

He shrugged. "Couldn't sleep." He told her simply walking over to grab a towel to wipe up the spilled coffee.

A silent awkwardness settled over them. Hermione stood in the middle of the kitchen, looking unsure as she bit her lip and looked down at the floor. He wanted so badly to just walk over to her, take her in his arms and kiss her until everything was forgotten between them and she melted into his body. But he didn't want to push it, knowing she was still furious with him.

"Um is Crissy up yet?" she asked him.

"No."

"Oh." Was all she said then went back to looking at everything but at him.

"I'm sorr…"

"Hermione I…"

They both said at the same time.

Draco smirked and gestured towards her. "You go first."

She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry about last night. I overreacted and I should have trusted you more." She bit her lip. "I'm sorry I hit you."

Draco was stunned, he wasn't expecting her to apologize to him, hell he was mentally bracing himself in case she lashed out again with her wrath.

"No Hermione you don't have to apologize. You had every right to react the way you did. I'm the one, who's sorry, it's my fault, and I messed up. I shouldn't have let it happen; I should've made her leave or pushed her away."

He looked so sincere Hermione really believed him or she really wanted to.

"I'm sorry." He told her again taking a step towards her.

It took everything in her to stay put where she was and not move a step back away from him or take a step forward and into his arms. "It's okay." She said quietly. "Just as long as we're here, don't let it happen again."

"Okay." He took another step towards her closing the gap.

She tensed and again made herself stay put. His hand reached up and cupped the side of her face, his thumb grazed along the soft skin below her eye. His eyebrows bunched together, he looked just as tense as she felt.

"Did I do this to you?" He asked her, knowing he was talking about the dark circles beneath her eyes.

She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep." Mimicking what he told her earlier and not exactly answering his question.

He didn't remove his hand from her face; instead he started to weave his fingers through her hair. "I'm glad you came back." He whispered and leaned in.

Hermione turned her head at the last minute dodging his kiss that was meant for her lips, making him kiss her cheek instead. She mentally cursed herself. She told herself she was over it and that she forgave him. But when she thought of him kissing, all she could think of and see was him kissing Gwen instead of her.

If he was surprised or shocked that she avoided his kiss he didn't show it. He took a step back giving her space. Another awkward silence fell around them.

"Um how was Crissy last night?" she asked him turning towards the refrigerator to grab something to eat and also to have something to do, other than stand there while he stared back at her.

"She was fine. Only woke up once in the middle of the night."

"Was she okay?"

"Yeah. I just made her a bottle than sat with her in the rocker until she fell back asleep."

"Oh well that's good."

"She asked for you, I think she knew you weren't here last night."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me, I would've come back."

"Really? You would have come back if I told you. Even though you were mad at me?"

She nodded. "If she needed me, yes."

Before another awkward silence descended on them he blurted out. "I fired her."

"What?" she asked not quite understanding what he was trying to say.

"Gwen. I fired her. So you don't have to worry about her anymore."

"Oh. Do you think that's a wise decision?"

"I thought that's what you would've wanted me to do?"

"Yeah, but what about your career? Won't it affect it if you're without a manager?"

"I can always get a new manager. It's not that big of a deal."

"But what about your offer to play for the Cannons? Without Gwen will you still have that opportunity?" She asked him, but why was she defending that woman?"

"Bloody hell Hermione, I thought you would be happy that I sacked her." He told her running a hand through his hair.

"I am. I just don't want you to destroy your career over this."

"So you rather I keep her on, give her, her job back so she can continue to be in my life?"

"No! I mean…ugh I don't know. I don't ever want to see that woman again, but I don't want you to destroy your career over this either."

"I'm so relieved that you think so highly of my quidditch abilities that you think I need her to be successful." He told her sarcastically.

"That's not what I meant." They were getting nowhere with this.

"I'm sure my career will be just fine without her. And besides I told you I can get a new, different manager. In fact I was thinking maybe I can ask Blaise to fill in temporary or full time if he's interested. He loves that kind of stuff. And he knows all about the quidditch world, hell he probably knows more about it then I do."

"But what about the Cannons offer?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm staying with the Bat's."

Hermione gasped. "Are you sure? Playing for the Cannons would be a huge opportunity."

"If I was a young single bachelor, then sure I would take it. But I'm not. And I like the Bats. It's a good team. And with them, I'll be able to come home and sleep in my own bed every night. With the Cannons I would have to stay in a tiny apartment and only come home for a couple of days a week if I'm lucky."

Hermione nodded and sighed. "I just don't want you to regret it or resent down the road."

"I won't." he told her.

"Okay. So…how did she take it? When you fired her?"

"Um." He rubbed that back of his neck with his hand, he looked almost sheepish, embarrassed even. "Um well I don't know exactly. I fired her in a letter. I sent it just before you got here."

She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. "You fired her in a letter? That's pretty cruel."

"Would you rather I do it in person, her and me alone in a room together?"

Hermione cheeks flushed. "No I guess not." She grumbled.

"That's what I thought."

Hermione walked towards the kitchen table.

"What's that in your hand?" He asked her.

"Pumpkin juice."

"No, in your other hand, what's in the jar?"

She looked down and grimaced. Merlin how could she forget about those? "Leeches."

"And what do you need leeches for?"

"The Polyjuice potion."

"There are leeches in the Polyjuice?"

She nodded. "They won't be whole. I have to grind them up before adding them to the potion."

Draco made a face. "Yeah because that's so much better." He said sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes. "You won't even know they're in there once you drink the potion."

"Why am I the one drinking the potion again?"

"Because you volunteered, because you know Knockturn alley better than I do and you didn't want me to do it because it's too dangerous and it might hurt the baby."

"Oh yeah, right." He ran a hand through his hair making it stick out in all directions.

"Relax you still have a month before you need to freak out about anything."

He rolled his eyes at her, "Ha-ha."

Just than a soft crying sound came from the hallway.

"I'll get her." They both said at the same time.

They chuckled at their ridiculousness. "You go ahead." He motioned her to go.

"Okay." She set the jar of leeches on the counter.

"But take those with you…or put them somewhere where I can't see them."

She rolled her eyes at him and picked up the jar and sauntered out of the room. He watched as she walked away towards the nursery. It was completely mad how happy he felt now that she was back home. As stupid as it sounded, but it felt like he could breathe again, which was ridiculous, he had been breathing just fine without her here before. And he didn't even want to think about how much it hurt, when she turned her face away when he tried to kiss her earlier.

A tapping noise was coming from the window above the kitchen sink, a large sliver owl stood just outside with a letter in its beak. It was an owl he didn't recognize.

Great, it was probably Gwen with a response to his earlier letter, he thought. He opened the window and accepted the letter from the owl. Giving her an owl treat before letting her take off. He opened the letter, if it was Gwen she sure used fancy expensive parchment, especially if it was only to tell him off. Except it wasn't from Gwen, it was worse. His mother.

_My Dearest Draco,_

_ I would love you to join me for dinner at the Manor tonight. I have some very important issue to discuss with you. Please bring Hermione and my daring granddaughter Cristina. If tonight is unmanageable please let me know at your earliest convenience and we'll make another date. If not I'll see you and your family at 4:30pm for tea then dinner afterwards._

_Love your mother, Narcissa. _

Businesslike and straight to the point, just like his mother. Even an invite for dinner has to be professional and well mannered. He didn't think his mother ever let her hair down and had fun every now and then. Of course now the issue's going to be, how was he going to get Hermione to agree to this? Memories of what his family did to her six years ago, hell a year ago with his father, probably weren't going to convince her to come willingly.

Hermione walked back into the kitchen after changing Crissy. Crissy was still really groggy so she decided to leave her in her pj's until after breakfast. Which was really a win; win because with any luck then she wouldn't have to wash a different set of clothes today, since right now Crissy isn't the daintiest of eaters.

Hermione handed her over to Draco, who then put her in her highchair after giving her a smacking kiss on the cheek and a raspberry on the belly resulting a squeal of delight from Crissy.

Hermione walked to the refrigerator and pulled out some food items for Crissy. They were going to try whole fruits today instead of mushy baby food. She grabbed some grapes, a banana and a peach. Along with some dry cereal. She put a handful of cereal onto the tray of her highchair and a bottle, while she cut up the fruit into tiny bite size pieces.

Once Crissy finished eating Hermione picked her back up trying not to get any of the sticky fruit juices that covered the front of Crissy's pj's. Sometimes baby bibs don't always catch every spill or drop.

"Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?" Hermione asked Draco who was busy reading the Daily Prophet and eating a bowl of cereal.

"Hmm?" he looked up at her.

"Don't you have practice today?"

"Nope I have the next couple of days off."

"Oh good." She smiled halfheartedly, as she walked to the nursery to change Crissy.

When she came back out Draco was on the sofa flipping through channels. "So what do you want to do today?" he asked her as she set Crissy down in her play pen.

"Um, well I was hoping, wanting to take a nap for a couple of hours, and since you're here all day you can watch her, maybe you can take her to the park. You know how much she loves to watch the ducks?"

"Um sure. Are you feeling okay?" he asked her looking concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired, I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Okay, yeah go lay down for a bit. But make sure you're ready and dressed by four o'clock." He told her turning back to the TV.

"Why what's at four o'clock?"

"Well at 4:30pm we're meeting someone for dinner."

"Who are we meeting and isn't 4:30 a bit early for dinner?"

"Well we're having tea first, then dinner."

"Okay, but with who?" she asked, starting to get suspicious, he was starting to act weird, why wouldn't he just tell her who they were meeting for dinner?

"Um well my mother invited us for tea and dinner tonight…at the manor."

It felt like her heart just stopped. "What?"

"We're having dinner tonight with my mother."

"At the Malfoy Manor?" she asked him, mortified that her voice sounded shaky.

He nodded.

"Do I have to go?" she knew it sounded childish but she really didn't want to go.

"She requested your presence."

"Really?" he nodded again. "How long have you known about this?"

He shrugged. "I got the letter this morning when you were getting Crissy up."

"Why didn't you tell me this then?"

"Because I'm telling you now."

"Ugh I'm going to lay down now." She stomped away, she want to talk about this anymore and she didn't want to think about it.

"Well that went well." Draco told Crissy who was playing with her stuffed dragon.

"Gaga," she squealed holding out said dragon towards him to play with her.

Either Hermione was still mad at him, or she was still sleeping, because she hadn't come out of the bedroom all day. She skipped lunch and didn't even stir when he snuck into the room to change clothes before taking Crissy to the park to play.

Well now it was closing in on 4:00pm and she hadn't emerged from the bedroom. He managed to get Crissy dressed in something that wasn't covered in applesauce and walked into the bedroom. The curtains were still closed and the lights were still off.

He walked over to her sleeping form; if she wasn't snoring softly he would have thought she was faking it. He reached out and lightly shook her shoulder, trying not to startle her too much.

"Hermione?" she shook her again, she barely twitched in her sleep.

He ended up sitting on the side of the bed next to her. He leaned over and set Crissy down in the middle of the bed, then turned back to Hermione. He leaned in close so he could whisper in her ear.

"Hermione? Time to get up." And since he was so close to her and the smell of her skin and hair were so intoxicating that it drew him in closer as if it was some sort of magnetic pull.

He kissed that spot just below her ear, a spot he knew could drive her crazy. Then slowly, because he was helpless against it, made his way over her jaw until he came to her lips. She sighed, but still remained asleep. So he kissed her again, this time a bit deeper. He continued to do so until she started to kiss him back. She started off with slow soft kisses, and then opened her mouth so he could slip inside. He knew she was really starting to wake up when he hand came up to tangle into his hair and pull him closer to her. If she was still mad at him, it definitely didn't seem that way now.

Before he totally forgot where they were and who was watching them aka Crissy, and where they needed to be soon. "Hermione…mmm…we need to…mmm…get…mmm…going, ah hell."

One of her hands snuck inside his trousers.

With great regret he grabbed hold of her wrist and pulled her hand free. "Hermione sweetheart you need to wake up, it's time to go."

"Hmm?"

"It's time to get up."

"What?" her eyes flew open.

Damn she was having the incredible dream and of course she woke up before anything good happened. Her eyes focused and she noticed Draco practically lying on top of her, his hair all askew. Oh maybe it wasn't a dream. He was speaking to her, but she wasn't paying attention.

"You need to get ready. It's time to go."

Go? Then it came back to her, and she noticed Draco dressed in a light gray button down shirt and dark gray trousers both perfectly pressed. And Crissy who was sitting in the middle of the bed looking at them like they were nuts, wearing a cute little pink dress.

Oh god, did she just have her hand down his pants? His hand still held her wrist, as her fingers laid dangerously close to his unzipped trousers.

"Maybe later sweetheart, but now's not a good time for that." He smirked.

Her gaze flew to his face and her face heated so much she could feel sweat pebbling down the back of her neck. Not that he seemed all that upset that she practically molested him.

"Can't I just stay here instead? Tell her I'm not feeling well."

He let go of her hand and smirked at her. "And are you feeling unwell?"

"Does embarrassment count as a sickness?" she mumbled.

"Nope. And you have no reason to be embarrassed. If we didn't have a prior engagement and if our daughter wasn't in the room, then I would've gladly stripped down naked and have you fondled me until your heart's content." He winked at her.

"Oh god." She rolled her eyes, face flaming, she ripped the covers off her, shoving Draco away so she could get up. "Fine I'll get ready, but I'm going under protest." She hightailed it to the bathroom to get ready.

She brushed her teeth and washed her face. She quickly braided her hair into a single braid down her back and slapped on some simple makeup, just enough to make her look alive and not like she just slept the day away. Wearing a robe she left the bathroom to go to the closet. Draco was still in the room. He lay on his side on the bed playing with Crissy.

"What are you still doing in here?"

He looked up at her, "What do you mean?" he asked.

"You should go get Crissy's diaper bag ready or something."

"I already did that."

She stepped into the closet and started looking through all her dresses. "Did you put everything into it? Like an extra set of clothes, blanket, pacifier, extra bottles, diapers, snacks, toys, books, pj's, bi…"

"Yes Hermione I got everything in it. Don't worry about it."

She put on a long dark blue maxi dress and added some strappy Grecian sandals to go with it, grabbing a light cardigan sweater to bring along, she exited the closet.

"Okay I'm ready let's get this over with."

"Well try not to sound too excited about it." Draco teased her as he got off the bed and grabbed Crissy.

She followed them out the door and into the kitchen. Crissy's diaper bag sat on the counter, she walked over to it and peeked inside.

"I told you I already packed everything." He told her.

"I'm just checking to make sure."

"So you don't trust me, is that it?"

She raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

He shook his head and let her look through the bag.

"Where's Gaga?"

"In Crissy's crib, why?"

"Because we need to bring her or it? Crissy can't sleep without it."

Draco ran his hand through his hair. "Okay Ms. Know it All, I'll got get it."

So what if she was a know it all. When it comes to babies, you have to be prepared for anything and everything.

"Okay got it, so can we go now, we're going to be late if we don't leave now."

"Yeah I guess. Um how are we going to get there?" she asked him slinging the bag over her shoulder.

"Well I wanted to fly, but we don't have time, so I guess were going to have to apparate there."

"We'll have to go side along, because I don't know exactly where I'm going." Because the last time she went there she had been blindfolded.

"Okay ready?" Draco shifted Crissy to his other side and reached out his hand towards her.

As soon as she grabbed a hold of it, they popped out of sight, to a place Hermione only visited in her nightmares. A place she never wanted to go again.

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><p>AN: I Just want to let everyone know that I have not stolen this story or storyline from anyone. This storyline is completely my own. I've had a couple people accuse my of stealing this story off of the website Quotev. But as it turns out another person posted my story on that website and if you look closely she did say in the disclaimer that the story Playing House With Malfoy is written by DMlover (me) and that she is not claiming it as her own. So anyway I just wanted to clear that up. Hopefully that answers everyone questions. I wasn't to thrilled that someone posted my story without my consent, but I'm glad they still credited me. Anyway okay enough off that please keep on reading and reviewing.<p> 


	21. Chapter 21: The Mother In-Law

Chapter 21: The Mother In-Law

Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Harry Potter or JK Rowling.

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><p>They arrived in a garden full of colorful flowers of all kinds. Creeping ivy covered the sides of trees and archways along a winding pathway leading to a white gazebo in the center.<p>

The entire yard was breathtaking, then she turned towards the house and her stomach dropped. Tremors shook her body and it took everything in her power not to take a step back and apparate out of there while she still could.

"Come on this way." Draco started leading her towards a small all glass enclosed solarium with a small sitting area.

Her palms started sweating and her breathing became shallow, if she didn't control herself now she was going to have a full on panic attack.

"Draco I can't" she tugged on his hand to make him stop.

He turned and looked at her, his dark blonde eyebrows bunched together in concern. "What's wrong? Are you going to get sick?"

She shook her head and let go of his hand, secretly gripping her wand in her other hand in case she needed to make a quick exit. The last time she was here Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her repeatedly while Draco and his family stood by and watched.

Her forearm tingled uncomfortably where Bellatrix craved the word Mudblood into her skin. Thankfully the scar has since healed and faded, but she could still feel it and see it in her mind. She knew now that Draco wouldn't have been able to do anything to help her without getting hurt or worse killed in the process. Bellatrix might have been his aunt, but she was just as vicious and evil as Voldmort was. And that he constantly had a death warrant over his head if he so much as stepped out of line and disobeyed orders. But it still upset her that no one other than Harry and Ron and the others held prisoner at the time tried to help her. She thought she was going to die that day and she might have if Dobby and the others hadn't distracted everyone enough for them to make an escape.

"I don't know if I can go in there. I'm trying not to be a coward about this, but I really don't think that I can do this. I promised myself that I would never come here again."

He looked at her confused and then at the house. It must have dawned on him, because a look of guilt crossed his face. "Shit Hermione, I'm sorry I completely forgot about all of that." He scrubbed his face with his free hand. "If you want to go back I'll understand. I'm sorry for making you come here I wasn't thinking."

Hermione stared at the exterior of the manor as she contemplated her decision. "I'll stay," she managed to say. "We're already here and I have to remember we're in the future now, not back in the present day where the war is still fresh on everyone's minds."

She reached out and took Crissy from his arms, and held her close. Needing comfort from her little body.

"Do you want me to carry the bag?" Draco asked reaching out his hand.

"Sure." She slid the bag off her shoulder and started to hand it to him.

Her hands were shaking so badly that she would have dropped it, if he hadn't taken it from her. Draco slung the bag over his shoulder and grabbed Hermione's trembling hand in his own, then stepped in front of her. His other hand reached up to cup her cheek.

"I promise nothing bad will happen to you here. Nobody will hurt you again." He leaned down so he could look her in the eye.

"I know." She whispered.

"We'll stay for no more than three hours, then will go home okay?" he told her stroking his thumb along her jaw, which was very distracting for her.

She nodded. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. As he was about to lean down and kiss her again on the lips. Narcissa stepped outside to greet them.

"There you two are. Well come on inside, it looks like it's going to pour down rain any second now."

Instead of walking straight inside like Narcissa wanted them too. Draco turned to Hermione, "Ready?" she nodded, and it was now or never.

Before she took a step towards the manor she grabbed hold of his hand, which he gave a reassuring squeeze back. It made her heart skip a beat, because he was trying to prove to her that he did care and understood the turmoil she was currently going through. Taking a deep breath they made their way towards the manor.

Narcissa seemed about the same as Hermione remembered; uptight and rigid. She had perfectly pressed clothing on and not a hair out of place on top of her head. Once they got inside the air of arrogance she had disappeared. In a blink of an eye. In place was a complete stranger.

Narcissa turned to Draco first, and threw her arms around him. "Oh Draco my boy it's so good to see you. I wasn't sure if you would be able to make it today."

Draco seemed just as surprised as Hermione had. "Uh, it's good to see you too mother." Her told her and hugged her back, still not letting go of Hermione's hand.

Hermione was the next victim. "And Hermione, look at you. You're as beautiful as ever and positively glowing."

"Um thank you." She said meekly.

"Well come here don't be shy." Narcissa told her holding out her arms.

Hermione stepped into her arms awkwardly not sure what she wanted her to do. Narcissa put her arms around her and lightly squeezed after giving her air kisses along her cheeks.

Before pulling away she cupped Hermione's face in her hands, "I'm glad you decided to come." Narcissa told her sincerely.

Hermione nodded unsure of what to say, but she was relieved when Narcissa turned her attention to Crissy instead of herself.

"And my beautiful Cristina, come say hello to your grand-mama." Narcissa took Crissy out of Hermione's arms before she could do anything.

She turned to Draco, giving him a questioning look, which he just answered with a shrug. It seemed he didn't know why his mother was acting so…cheerful either.

"You're such a pretty girl, and you're getting so big."

Narcissa continued to baby talk to Crissy as she held her in her arms. Crissy reached up and pulled a strand of hair out of Narcissa's prefect up-do. Hermione mentally winced waiting for the backlash when Narcissa shoved Crissy back at her. Narcissa didn't even flinch.

Crissy stuck the piece of loose hair in to her mouth and began to suck on it, right before she let out the loudest fart known to mankind.

Hermione's face paled and her eyes went huge as Draco let out a strangled laugh, which he tried to cover up by coughing.

"I'm…so, so sorry. We changed her before we left…I guess she wasn't…I'm so sorry." Hermione was mortified…yeah that was a great first impression. If Narcissa was going to get angry now would be the time. But she just laughed.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's completely natural. And it's just what babies do. They urinate, poop and pass gas, and always at the most inconvenient times. I know firsthand with this one here." She pointed to Draco. "You wouldn't believe the toxic odors emitted by him when he was a boy."

Draco choked and then turned bright red. "Mother." He warned.

"Anyway it's funny how a person so tiny can create such a foul odor."

This was completely surreal. Hermione was having an outer body experience; she couldn't believe she was standing here talking about bodily functions like passing gas and pooping with Narcissa Malfoy.

"You two go ahead into the library, while I go change this little one's nappy." Narcissa told them tickling Crissy's tummy just like she had seen Draco do so many times.

"Are you sure? I could…" Hermione started to reach for Crissy.

"Oh nonsense you two go ahead, we'll be back in a minute." Narcissa left them standing in the hallway.

Hermione looked over at Draco stunned. "Well that went well." He told her.

Hermione slapped a hand over her face as she shook her head and groaned. What just happened here?

Draco grabbed her wrist to pull her hand off her face. "Come on the library's this way."

As they walked down one of the corridors, Hermione realized that the interior of the manor wasn't at all what she imagined. Instead of rows of portraits of many generations of Malfoy ancestors, there were paintings of floral arrangements and luscious gardens. And instead of creepy gargoyles-like statues filling the various arched niches in the walls, there were statues of cherubs and fairies. Although in Hermione's opinion those were just as creepy looking as gargoyles.

Even the colors of the walls seemed different, a lot warmer and brighter than the cold, dark gray's she remembered from before. Of course before she had never been in this part of the manor.

They entered the library and Hermione's breath got caught in her lungs. The bookworm in her was in awe. There were three entire walls full of books, with bookshelves that were at least three stories high. And a gigantic floor to ceiling arched window that over looked the rose garden behind the manor.

Unfortunately Narcissa was right it did look like it was about to pour down rain any second. Just as she was thinking about it a large bolt of lightning strike the sky followed by a low rumble of thunder, Draco pulled her over to sit down on a love seat in front of the a massive fireplace. Draco sat down next to her as they waited for Narcissa to return with Crissy.

Hermione should have gone with her in case something bad happened, but her gut instinct was telling her that everything was okay so far.

"So has your mother always' been so…nice?"

Draco ran a hand through his hair. "No, not to my knowledge. It's a bit unnerving."

"What do you think she wants to talk about?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea."

Hermione let out a sigh and put her hands in her lap, sitting straight up on the edge of the love seat, refusing to relax. Draco put his arm around her shoulders, forcing her to lean back against the seat.

"Relax. Nothing is going to happen." He told her crossing one leg over the other, resting his ankle on his knee in a guy fashion, looking as calm as ever.

A loud rumble of thunder sounded in the distance making her jump. "I know it's just old habits I guess."

Draco's fingers were playing with the pleats in her braid she had running down her back, making her relax just a little bit. "That was pretty hilarious what happened back in the hallway. I didn't know Crissy had it in her…no actually I changed my mind, I've changed her diapers enough to know that she is indeed capable of doing that." He chuckled.

"It's not funny." She mumbled. "And I can't believe it happened in front of your mother." She covered her face in her hands bending forward resting her elbows on her knees.

Draco rubbed the back of her neck. "No it was funny. Admit it you wanted to laugh."

She peeked at him through her fingers and shook her head. "What did you feed her anyway?"

"A jar of that mush stuff you always feed her. I think it said something like beef with gravy, mixed vegetables and rice. It was some sort of greenish brown color and it smelled horrible. But Crissy licked it right up."

Hermione snorted her face still in her hands as Draco massaged her neck.

"I wonder if her poo will be the same color."

Hermione slid him a look as if he'd had gone mad.

"What?" he shrugged. "I fed her carrot mush the other day and when I changed her diaper it was orange."

Hermione shook her head. "I don't want to talk about this." She told him trying hard not to smile.

"I mean it wasn't bright orange or anything, but it definitely had an orange tint to it."

Hermione burst out laughing, and then slapped a hand over her mouth. "What is it with boys and bowel movements? Every one of them thinks it's funny to talk about."

"It got you to laugh didn't it?"

She rolled her eyes.

"And who says bowel movements anyway? It's okay to use words like; poop, fart, crap, sh…" she covered his mouth with her hand.

"Stop that."

He smiled behind her hand. "Why?" she felt his lips brush the palm of her hand and she refused to feel tingly about it especially since the topic they were talking about revolved around poop.

"Why? Because when your mother walks in here, which could be at any moment. I don't want to be discussing poop with you."

"What are you two talking about?" Narcissa's amused voice came from behind them.

Hermione felt her face heat up as she glared at Draco, her hand still covering his mouth. He winked and kissed the inside of her hand before pulling it away from his face.

"Nothing mother."

Hermione turned to Narcissa. "It was really nothing, other than the fact that Draco was just telling me how he's been feeling really backed up lately. It's been making him quite cranky." It was Draco's turn to glare at Hermione.

She smiled sweetly at him and patted his knee. "Isn't that right honey?" He sneered at her, serves him right for embarrassing her like this.

"Oh darling why didn't you say something. I'll have Petal bring out some freshly squeezed prune juice. Would you rather have that instead of tea?"

"No mother, tea is fine." Draco muttered.

Another streak of lightning lit the sky followed by a loud crash of thunder making the walls shake.

Crissy started to get upset and Narcissa rubbed her back. "It's alright little dove, it's just a little storm, we're perfectly safe inside here." She told Crissy. "You made it just in time before the storm hit." Narcissa told Draco and Hermione.

Sheets of rain beat against the window. At first there had been an awkward silence between all of them. Crissy kept squirming around until Narcissa let her off her lap and onto the floor, where she started to crawl over to Hermione.

Hermione reached into Crissy's bag and pulled out her toy dragon and some other toys Crissy could play with.

"So…the place looks nice." Draco broke the silence.

Narcissa beamed. "Do you like it? I just finished the remodeling and decorating. It was too dark and gloomy before, has been for years. It needed a nice face lift and a splash of color." She waved her hand and a tea set along with a plate of assorted biscuits appeared on the coffee table between them.

Narcissa poured the tea into the cups and passed them around. Hermione wasn't in the mood for tea or food for that matter, she was too nervous to think about eating. But out of politeness and also just to give her something to do, so she wasn't just sitting there fidgeting. She took a small sip and was relieved that it was some sort of ginger tea something that would help soothe her stomach.

Draco broke the silence again. "So mother, what brings us here this evening?" he reached over and grabbed a couple biscuits and pastries off the platter they were displayed on.

Narcissa set her teacup and saucer down. "Do I need a reason to see my only son and his family?" she asked him in a stern tone.

Hermione was surprised to see Draco blush. "Of course not mother. I only meant you wanted to discuss something, something important with us."

She nodded. "I do, but we don't have to discuss it right this second. What I want to know is, how is the pregnancy coming along?" Narcissa looked right at Hermione.

Hermione lost in thought almost choked on her tea when she realized Narcissa was talking to her. "Oh um, it's going well, nothing bad has happened so far."

"No morning sickness or anything?"

Hermione resisted the urge to snort. "Morning sickness, yes, I've experienced that. But it seems to be subsiding a bit…I hope."

Draco threw an arm around her shoulders. "In fact we have some news to tell you."

Hermione looked at him from the corner of her eye, news? What news?

"We just found out we're expecting a boy."

Oh yeah she forgot that Narcissa didn't know that yet.

Narcissa clapped a hand against her chest and beamed. "Oh that is wonderful news. A boy, a grandson." Her eyes filled up with tears and looked like they were threating to spill over.

Draco let the arm around Hermione's shoulders slide away as he leaned forward. "Mother are you alright?" Draco asked her looked concerned.

Narcissa pulled out a handkerchief from a pocket hidden in her robes. "Oh I'm fine, I just so happy for you, for both of you." She said looking at Hermione.

Hermione smiled and looked down. Crissy had crawled over to them and was gripping hard on Draco's pant leg trying to pull herself up. She managed to get into a standing position and stay there only wobbling a bit. But she kept a pretty strong grip on Draco's trousers. Hermione wanted to reach over and pick her up or sit her back down so she didn't fall and hit her head on the corner of the table, but she didn't. Crissy needed to learn to stand and walk on her own.

She hadn't walked or really stood up since a few days ago when she took her first steps. This now seemed like ages ago. She reached out her little hand, looking like she wanted to grab something. Hermione looked at where Crissy's eyesight landed.

She chuckled. Draco had a plate of colorful biscuits sitting on a small plate that rested on his lap, Draco noticed too and set the plate aside and picked Crissy up and set her on his lap instead.

He picked up a pink cookie sprinkled with sugar crystals and broke a small piece off and handed it to Crissy, who stuck it in her mouth and gnawed on it. The only bad thing with this was that Crissy was teething, which resulted in a slight drooling problem.

Once the cookie was reduced to slobbery crumbs, Hermione reached over to grab a napkin to wipe off Crissy's now sticky mouth and slimy fingers.

"So I've decided I'm moving out." Narcissa stated.

Hermione and Draco both looked up at her surprised. Narcissa had a pink tint to her cheeks as if she were blushing. "What?" Draco asked looking dumbfounded.

She cleared her throat. "I'm moving out, out of this manor. To France actually. Marseille to be exact."

"But why?" Draco asked.

"Because," Hermione could tell Narcissa was bracing herself, as she took a deep breath. "Because, I've met someone and he asked me to move in with him."

She felt Draco tense up next to her, she casually reached over and took Crissy from his lap incase, well in case he was about to lose it. By the way his face had gone pale and then red, she was afraid it might actually happen.

"That's nice." Hermione said trying to break the new tension in the room.

"Do I know him?" Draco asked his mother through clenched teeth.

Narcissa fidgeted and pushed a lock of hair behind her ear. She looked almost normal, younger in a way, instead of the cold proper robot of a woman Hermione always thought of her as. "No, no you do not."

"Well who is he then?" He asked her still tense. Hermione set her hand on his leg trying to calm him down. She was pleased when he actually did relax, even if it was only a tiny bit.

Narcissa cleared her throat again. "His name is William Greenburg." He's an artist, a painter as well as a sculpture. He's originally from London, but has recently moved to Marseille where he owns a charming villa along the coast."

"Does father know?" Draco asked her.

"No of course not! I've had no contact with his since he's been detained, nor do I want any contact with him ever again. Besides we've been legally separated since after the war and then finally legalized our divorce over a year ago. He made his choices and they have forever ruined his family as well as his future. Just because he's going to be alone for the rest of his life, doesn't mean I have to be as well."

"So how did you meet?" Hermione asked.

"Well I was curious about muggle London. Your father never let me go there to see the sights when we were together except when we had to take you to kings crossing to see you off to school. And one day about six months ago I was curious and decided to go and maybe do some shopping. Once I was there I had no idea what to do or where to go, so I started walking and came across that public garden courtyard place that you two always talk about. The place where you got engaged."

Hermione blushed and looked down, remembering the romantic date Draco took her on last week. Draco put his arm around the loveseat they were sitting on. His knuckles lightly stroking the skin on the back of her shoulder making her shiver.

"And well the gate was cracked open and I assumed the garden was open so I went inside to look around. Well it turns out It wasn't open, the space was privately rented out to William for the day. He was there with his easel and paints. He paints flower gardens and landscapes. Actually I have some of his work hanging out in the hallway. Anyway, the next thing I know we were talking and having tea at a charming café down the street from the garden."

Something clicked in Hermione's brain. "Wait, William Greenburg, is he a famous artist?"

Narcissa thought about it. "Yes he is quite well known, but you would never know by meeting him. He's very humble about his talent and doesn't flaunt his money around, which I love about him. It's a very nice change, especially since Lucious was the exact opposite of him."

Draco mumbled under her breath next to her, it sounded like he said he was going to be sick.

"I think my mum has a calendar hanging up in their house that has his prints in it."

Narcissa nodded, "I wouldn't be surprised, and he has all kinds of paper products out there that feature his works; calendars, stationary, postcards as well as a number of other items."

"I've never heard of a William Greenburg artist or wizard." Draco said.

Narcissa blushed and nervously straighten out her robes. "Well that's because he's not a wizard."

"If he's not a wizard then who is he?"

"Well you see…he's actually a muggle."

Hermione had to admit, she didn't see that coming.

"A muggle?" Draco asked shocked. "You're dating a muggle? You? Who have always been so proud of the fact that you come from a long line of purebloods as well as the Malfoys. And yet you're dating a muggle!"

"Honestly Draco. It's not like we're going to conceive a child out of this union or anything, I'm way too old for that."

Draco covered his ears. "Oh bloody hell, I can't listen to this."

Hermione started to grow uncomfortable again. It wasn't a good thing to be discussing purebloods verses muggles in this place, especially since she herself is muggleborn, something Draco himself reminded her almost every day since second year.

"Well I think it's great that you met someone. And as long as you're happy then we're happy for you."

Hermione nudged Draco in the ribs, "Right Draco?"

He made a sound that sounded like a snort, but didn't say anything.

"Thank you Hermione that means a lot. I know it's difficult to understand given my previous beliefs and actions regarding muggles and muggleborns. But despite everything I know he's the one and I'm happy, happier then I've been in a really long time."

"Does he know you're a witch?" She asked her.

"Yes I told him about myself earlier on in our relationship."

"You told him you are a witch?" Draco asked shocked.

Hermione put her hand on his arm. "I'm assuming since you're still together he took it well." Hermione said before Draco could say anything else.

"Yes he did, he took it rather well. Though I had to make him promise to never tell anyone about it."

"Can we please start talking about something else, I'm not sure how much I can take on this." Draco said looking angry and a little sick.

"Oh course dear." Narcissa said looking a little sad. "Why don't we go into the dining room? I'm sure dinner is about ready."

They all rose from their seats and started out the room. Hermione noticed Draco walking without waiting to see if anyone else followed, Narcissa lagged behind a little. Hermione felt she needed to say something. She just didn't know what.

"Once the shocked wears off, he'll be more agreeable. Like I said earlier, as long as you're happy that's all that matters."

Narcissa patted her arm. "Thank you dear. And I hope your right. I don't want him to be disappointed and hate both his parents."

"No he doesn't hate you, he'll never hate you or be disappointed in you. It's just a lot to take in right now. He'll come around you'll see."

Narcissa nodded.

Together they walked into the dining room. They sat down at the endlessly long dining table, which seemed a bit silly for just the three of them or four if you included Crissy. Draco sat next to Hermione, while Narcissa sat opposite them across the table with Crissy by her side in an old fashion looking highchair. Narcissa insisted on feeding her.

It was still raining outside. For it being such a large house, you could still hear the rain pouring down on the roof so much so that the sound was almost deafening. Neither Draco nor Narcissa noticed it, but it made Hermione jump every time a loud crack of thunder shook the walls and windows.

Their first course arrived in front of them. It was a creamy tomato and basil soup which seemed perfect for a stormy night like this. There wasn't much conversation once they sat down to eat. Everyone seemed to be in their own thoughts.

Narcissa was quietly feeding Crissy, with surprising ease. Hermione was shocked when she got Crissy to eat something without having Crissy spit it out until it ended up all over her face and chin. Once everyone finished their soup the dishes disappeared and the main course arrived.

Hermione took one look at it and paled. She felt her stomach take a sudden lurch. She had to look away from the dish and take some deep breaths, afraid she was going to be sick. It was a fish course, but instead of being a nice fillet of fish, it was a whole fish. It still had the tail and everything, including the head. The fish's dead eyes were staring at her with a dead blank look. The mouth was still open showing a tiny row of teeth. The skin and scales were baked until brown, crispy and withered looking.

Normally fish didn't bother her, but then again she had never eaten a fish or anything really with the head still attached staring at her. And Narcissa or whoever came up with the meal clearly wasn't aware that it wasn't a good idea for a pregnant woman to eat seafood. Or at least to muggles it wasn't a good idea due to high mercury levels in fish, which could cause certain birth defects and illness for the baby.

Neither Draco nor Narcissa seemed to notice her in her turmoil with the entrée. Draco was eating the fish like a pro, no hesitation what so ever. He ate from the belly of the fish, taking the meat from around the back bone and the fins. She just happened to look up when Narcissa plucked the eye out of the fishes head and ate it. The eye! She didn't even know if fish's eyes were editable.

Her tomato soup threatened to make another appearance, she pushed her plate away and grabbed her glass of water, taking a nice big gulp of the icy liquid. Draco looked at her then.

"Aren't you hungry?"

She shook her head and took another drink.

He must have noticed her distress. He leaned in close and whispered. "The loo's down the hall to the right."

She nodded and set her napkin on the table. "If you'll excuse me." She got up and hurried to the restroom.

She must have been in there for a while because a knock came at the door and then it slowly opened. Draco leaned against the door jamb looking casual.

"You okay?"

She nodded from her spot on the floor. She hadn't had any energy to stand up yet. "Is dinner over yet?"

He crossed his arms over his chest and watched as she got up and went to the sink. "Not yet we still have dessert and coffee."

She groaned at the mention of coffee. "Just as long as the dessert doesn't have a head attached to it."

"I think your safe on that account." He chuckled. "Crissy was falling asleep so mother went ahead and put her to sleep in the nursery upstairs."

He must have seen her alarmed look. "Don't worry she's safe. There are special wards and charms around the room that will alert us if she needs anything. Wherever we are in the manor we will be able to hear it." Draco led her back to the library where they had tea earlier.

The sky outside was now an inky black. Angry strike of lightening still lit the sky, followed by loud crashed of thunder. It was raining so hard you couldn't see the tree outside that stood near the exterior wall. A roaring fire lit the fireplace warding off the earlier fall chill in the air.

Narcissa wasn't back yet. A loud crash of thunder crashed outside making the glass in the windows rattle noisily.

"Wow the storm isn't letting up is it?" She asked, rubbing her hands over her arms.

"No it doesn't look like it." Draco told her sitting down in the same loveseat as before.

Started to walk towards one of the walls of the books to look at, when Narcissa walked back in carrying a dark green binder of sorts. From Hermione's vantage point it looked fairly old and well-aged.

"Ah Hermione how are you feeling?"

"Better, just had a bout or morning sickness."

Narcissa nodded. "Yes it can be very troublesome."

Hermione took a seat next to Draco as Narcissa sat across from them. She set the binder down on the coffee table and slid it towards them.

"This is the main reason I wanted you to come by this evening and visit. Since you already know my plans to move out. I thought it was only appropriate that I give you this. By right it's already yours to inherit someday, and since your father is no longer here and will most likely never be again and since I'm choosing to leave, the manor gets passed down to you. In this binder is the deed to the manor and property."

Draco took the binder and opened it and looked through the pieces of parchment inside.

"This place I know holds good memories that I hope brings you comfort. But I know it also holds a lot of unpleasant ones as well. And because of that I'll respect whatever you decide to do with the manor. I will support your choice and stand by your side no matter what. You can sell it, tear it down, or keep it and live here. It's yours if you want it."

Draco finished looking through it, then looked up at his mother. "Thank you mother, this means a lot."

Narcissa nodded. "You don't have to make a decision right this moment. But when you do, you'll have my support no matter what."

Hermione sat there silently watching Draco carefully. She couldn't tell what he was thinking or feeling, he had a neutral expression on his face, she didn't think she should say anything. What was there to say anyway? It was his childhood home, so it was his choice to make, but she didn't want to be the bad guy here and tell him that there was no way that she was moving here. At least not anytime soon.

She couldn't imagine living here. Although Narcissa did make the atmosphere a bit more pleasant with the new décor, there was still something about the place that creeped her out.

A chocolate cake appeared in the center of the coffee table and Narcissa quickly made work at slicing the cake and serving it to each of them. Draco and his mother had coffee to drink as Hermione had some hot ginger tea.

Despite getting sick only minutes ago, Hermione ate up her cake as if she hadn't eaten anything all day. Another loud crash of thunder boomed outside causing all the walls to shake and rattle.

"I think it may be best if you two stay the night here. I don't think storm is going away anytime soon."

Hermione felt Draco look over at her silently asking her if she was okay with the idea. Honestly she wasn't sure, but she didn't want to be traveling out in this weather. "Okay." She told him quietly.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Crissy's already asleep and it's not safe to travel outside."

"Alright I guess we will take your offer and stay the night." Draco told his mother.

"Excellent. Your room should be already to go. Unlike the rest of the manor I left your rooms untouched. Expect for the nursery. It's just how you left it. Well if you don't mind I'm going to retire to my bedroom. Don't worry about the dishes, Tulip will take care of them when you're finished. I'll see you in the morning." Narcissa got up to leave.

"Goodnight mother."

"Yes goodnight." Hermione added.

"Goodnight my dears." And she left the room.

Once they knew she was gone Draco turned to her. "Are you sure you want to spend the night here. It's Okay if you don't. We can leave now if you want to."

She had to smile at how sincere he was being regarding her feelings. "No Draco its fine. One night will not kill me. And I have to admit I am a little curious."

"Curious about what?"

She shrugged. "What it will be like to spend the night here. And also whether or not your mother eats breakfast wearing her pajamas or if she's already well put together."

He laughed. "Trust me she will look as if she never went to sleep. I don't think I've ever seen my mother without makeup on or in her pajamas for that matter." Draco set his coffee cup down on the table. "So what do you want to do now, since we'll be staying here?" He asked her.

"Right now I want another slice of cake."

He snorted and sliced off another piece and passed it to her. "And after that?"

She shrugged. "What do you normally do to entertain yourself here?"

He wiggled his eyebrows. "Well I can think of a few things that we can entertain ourselves with."

She pushed him away when he started to move closer. "No, no way don't even think about it." She laughed. "But seriously what did you do to entertain yourself here?"

It was his turn to shrug. "I don't know I usually would hang out in my room or go flying."

"Hmm, well maybe you can give me a tour of the manor?"

"You want a tour?" He looked at her perplexed.

"Yes, I've only seen three rooms so far. Here, the dining room and the bathroom. Well four rooms if you want to get technical and count the last time I was here." She tried not to show any emotion on that last part, but she didn't hide it well.

"I won't take you there if you don't want me too."

"I'll let you know."

Once Hermione finished her cake Draco led her out of the library and started to show her around his childhood home. He was still reeling over the fact that this place was now officially his. The binder his mother gave him had his name on the deed and everything.

If you would have told him four years ago that he would be the master of the manor he would have been overjoyed, now he wasn't excited as he thought he would have been. If Voldemort and all the death eaters hadn't tainted this place with their dark magic then he might have been more enthusiastic about living here.

During the war he had seen more blood and carnage in his father's drawing room then he had anywhere else. And it had officially scarred him for life. He would never forget Voldemort killing the muggle studies teacher right in front of all of them and made them watch as Nagini ate her lifeless body.

The drawing room was the same place Bellatrix tortured Hermione with the cruciatus curse. He shuddered at the thought, if he were in Hermione's shoes he wouldn't have wanted to come back here either. He remembered the sick to his stomach feeling as he just stood there and let it happen, knowing full well that he couldn't have been able to do anything to stop or prevent it, unless he wanted the same punishment or worse.

The truth was he was a complete coward back then and he hated himself for hiding behind his family name, thinking he could do anything and get away with most things, because of who his father was.

He envied Hermione in that way. She never caved in a told Bellatrix what she wanted to hear. And he was secretly jealous of her Gryffindor courage sometimes. Though he would never admit it to her or any other Gryffindor. Even now when he knew she was nervous about coming back to this place and yet she was still here willing to stay the night.

He took her hand in his and continued showing her the first level of the manor. In each room he showed her, she would step into the room, just past the threshold, but never all the way in. And look around as if taking in every detail, but she never touched or really explore anything in the rooms. Every now and then she would ask him about something that caught her interest. She especially liked to stop and admire every portrait in the long corridors of the manor and he meant every one. There were probably about 100 in total throughout the whole manor.

She had only seen six of them so far, and she had asked questions about every single one. The majority of the portraits in the manor were of Past generations of Malfoy's as well as the Black's. Thank Merlin his family history had been drilled into him at an early age, otherwise he wouldn't know any of the answers to her endless questions.

After what felt like an hour later they finally started to make their way up to the 2nd floor. He managed to avoid going to the east wing of the manor. He hadn't been over there himself since the war had ended. It was where all of the deatheaters stayed when the war was in full swing. Voldemort pretty much made the manor his main headquarters.

Thank Merlin, Voldemort himself didn't stay at the manor. He holed himself in some little cave out in the middle of nowhere. Even his closest allies hadn't know his true whereabouts.

Once they got to the top of the stairs he led her towards his wing of the manor. Hermione tugged on his arm as he started to lead her towards his rooms.

"What's down there?" She asked him pointing behind her.

"That's my mother's wing. Her bedroom, is at the end of the hallway. As well as her personal library, study and sitting room are all in that wing as well."

"Does your father have his own wing as well?"

"Yes he has two actually or he did. The east wing both upstairs as well as the main floor of the manor are his."

"Did your parents have separate bedrooms?"

He nodded. "When I was younger I thought my parents shared a room, just like everyone else's parents, but then one night I found my mother sleeping alone. She told me she made him sleep in another room because he snored to loud. And I believed her, but then again I was only seven at the time. I found out later that they stopped sleeping together almost all together. And that my father only went to my mother when he needed her."

"Sounds very romantic." Hermione said sarcastically.

He looked over his shoulder and smirked.

"If they were so unhappy why did they stay together so long?"

He shrugged. "Money, name, status, you name it. My father didn't want the bad press and gossip and my mother didn't want to lose the manor and everything else that came with the Malfoy name."

They walked in silence for a bit as Hermione continued to study all the portraits. "There are so many portraits of past Malfoys and Black ancestors, but there are no portraits of you, no baby pictures or anything."

"Trust me you don't want to see my baby pictures." He told her tugging her down the hallway.

"Yes I do."

"Just picture Crissy with straight hair and there you go."

She snorted. "I still want to see them."

They turned another corner to another long hallway. I would be very easy to get lost in here, Hermione thought, this place was like a maze.

"This is my wing."

She stopped and stared at all the doors in the corridor. "All of these rooms are yours?"

"Yep six of these rooms are guest rooms in case my friends stayed over or something."

"You and your friends had sleepovers here?" She teased.

"Well no actually. No one had ever actually stayed over."

He hand barely let anyone come into his wing before. Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle had been the only ones to actually hang out here. But that was only because he had so many toys that he didn't want to play with by himself. But he had never let anyone into his bedroom before, not even Blaise.

"So what are in the other rooms?"

"My study is the 3rd door on the left. It is pretty much identical to the one my father has, a large desk and lots of books that I have never read let alone looked at."

Hermione let out a sound of disgust, and Draco held back a smirk, he knew that comment would irk her.

"The room right across from that is my game room." He walked over to it and opened the door, so she could see inside.

His billiards table, still looked massive taking up the middle of the room. His wizard's chess board had been left untouched in, he didn't know how long. Dart board, still hung on the wall with…shit! There was a mutilated picture of Potter pinned up right in the middle of it. A bunch of punctured marks left over from the darts littered the picture.

Hermione looked at him, eyebrow raised.

"Uh yeah, I haven't been in here for a while." He said sheepishly.

"Mmm hmm." She hummed.

He watched Hermione as she looked around the room, his brooms all mounted on the wall in order from the very first one that he got when he was five to his broom that he had when he played quidditch 5th year.

"There's no television, but I'd have to say muggle or wizard, every guy has to have some version of a man cave."

"Hmm, your right, maybe it's time to add an extra room at the house and make it into my 'man cave' as you like to call it."

"Um no. If you're going to add an extra room to the house, it's going to be a second nursery."

"We'll see." He smirked, then led her down the hallway. "Speaking of nursery I think this is where Crissy is sleeping."

He opened the door and peeked in. Sure enough Crissy laid there sound asleep in his old baby bassinet. It looked like she was wearing some frilly, lacy looking frock that his mother used to dress him in, which is why Hermione was never going to see any of his baby pictures.

"What is she wearing?" Hermione whispered.

"Something my mother picked out no doubt."

"It looks uncomfortable and itchy. I packed some PJs in the bag, why didn't she use those?"

"Because my mother has always been more about style and fashion instead of comfort."

"I don't want to take the chance of waking her up by changing her clothes."

"She'll be fine. Come on let's leave her be and let her sleep."

"Are you sure she'll be okay in here by herself? She's probably never been here before. And I would hate for her to wake up scared, because she is in a strange place."

"Like I said she'll be fine. There are wards set up around this room that will alert us the second she wakes up. And besides we'll be right next door."

"I know but…"

"She'll be fine." Draco reassured her.

Hermione let out a breath. "Okay."

She bent over the bassinet and brushed some of Crissy's curls out of the way and kissed her lightly on the forehead. "Goodnight sweetheart." Then stepped aside to let Draco say goodnight.

"Night Princess." Draco started to lead her out of the room.

Hermione stopped and turned back. "Are you sure…"

"Yes, now come one we don't want to wake her up." He walked her out of the room until they were back in the hallway.

He shut the door behind them and pulled out his wand and pointed it towards the doorknob.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked him.

"Just securing the wards so only you or I can gain access to this room."

"What about your mother?"

"Do you want my mother coming in here?"

"I don't see why not. She did out Crissy to bed without any problems."

"Okay, so now only you, mother and I can access this room."

He led her to a set of double doors at the end of the hallway.

Draco cleared his throat. "This is my room."

"Aren't we going to go in?" she asked him and reached for the doorknob.

Before her fingers could touch the metal, he grabbed her hand and pulled it away. "Don't."

She looked over at him alarmed, wondering why he stopped her.

"It's heavily warded." He put his hand on the door knob and pulled out his wand silently chanting a spell. The door opened and he stood in the doorway. "I've never let anyone in my room before." He told her.

"Ever?"

He shook his head. "I know I lived in this big house and me being an only child, didn't have any siblings, but…" He scratched his jaw. "Actually it seems a bit ridiculous now that I think about it. But it was my space and my space only. And I never allowed anyone to enter my room before."

"I get it, we all need space sometimes."

"Yeah, anyway I didn't start putting wards up until I caught my father hiding dark art materials and artifacts. And pretty much anything that could be deemed illegal according to the Ministry, he would hide underneath my floorboards in my closet. Turns out he had been hiding things in there for years and I hadn't known. I learned to make my wards more lethal when the deatheaters made my home their home as well. None of them stayed in my wing. But I wasn't about to take any chances that one of those bastards would try to sneak in and do who knows what to my room. For a long time I've only allowed my mother and a handful of trusted house elves to enter my room. But even the house elves are not allowed in without my permission first."

"I see." Hermione stood just outside the doorway. "So am I allowed in?" she teased.

He smirked and bowed at the waist, sweeping his arm around the room. "My room is yours."

She started to step inside his room, but he blocked her path. "But first you must pay the toll."

She crossed her arms over his chest. "Excuse me?"

"A kiss will do or…" He looked over at his king size four poster bed.

"No absolutely not." She walked around him into his room.

"Why not." He shut the door behind him and turned towards her.

"Why not?" She turned around to face him, arms crossed. "First off I'm still mad at you about last night. Even though you told me you didn't initiate anything, it still happened and I can't easily forget that. And second, your mother is just down the hallway."

He crossed his arms matching her stance. "She has he own wing on the opposite side of the manor. It's at least a 5-8 minute walk just to get to her bedroom. She wouldn't be aware of anything happening in here."

"It's still wrong."

He rolled his eyes and went over to an armoire and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"What are you doing?"

He turned to look at her. "I'm getting ready for bed. Maybe you should do the same."

She looked down at herself. "I don't have anything to wear. I wasn't exactly planning on an overnighter."

"Can't you just transform what you're wearing into pajamas?"

"No I don't want to wear what I've been wearing all day to bed."

He shrugged. "Fine go naked, I won't mind." He winked.

She huffed out a sigh. "May I borrow and shirt or something, please?"

"Since you said please." He opened a drawer and pulled out a dark gray striped button down pajama top and tossed it her way.

He shucked his shirt off his shoulders and draped it over a nearby chair. His shoes and socks came off next. "I'm going to take a shower, make yourself at home." He told her, then strode over to the bathroom connected to his room.

She watched his retreating form. Once he closed the door behind him, she finally took a look around his room. For someone who valued his privacy, his room didn't look all that unordinary. It was actually quite normal. I looked like something out of the Slytherin's dormitory. Dark grays with an accent color of green. Black leather sofa and matching overstuffed armchairs grouped in front of a large stone fireplace. Dark hardwood floors with a large oriental rug in the center. And of course the very large, in your face four poster bed. In the same dark wood as the floors.

What surprised her most where all the bookshelves in his room. Sure they had lots of bookshelves at their home, but they were mainly for her, because of her love for books. And there were millions of books all over the manor all of which Draco claimed he hadn't read. And why would he have all these bookshelves in his own bedroom, if he didn't like them?

She walked over to one of the shelves. She noticed that they weren't old tomes that people could hardly read, but liked to collect, because they were rare. Which she suspected were the majority of the books that they had in the manor. No these books were more modern. She noticed a lot by famous wizard mystery authors. Some other wizard suspense and thriller novels. Funny who knew Draco Malfoy was a closet bookworm.

Another shelf held a lot of his school books. The shelves closet to the bed, she was shocked to see shelves lined with none other than muggle novels. Most were classics, some American classics like _Tom Sawyer_ and _Huckleberry Finn_. He also had classics like _The Wizard of OZ, _and _Peter Pan_. There was also _Hamlet and Macbeth_. And one of her favorites growing up, _The Jungle Book._

Did his parents know about these? Is this why he kept his room so private, considering how anti-muggle his family is or used to be?

She noticed a small slim book tucked between two larger ones. She pulled it out to get a better look at it, because she couldn't see the title. When she pulled it out she noticed it was heavier then she thought it would be. There was no title on the spine and when she flipped it over to see the cover. It was _Pride and Prejudice _by Jane Austen. It was her all-time favorite book. She must have read it 500 times. So many times that she knew no copy of this novel could have so little pages from it. It had to be missing at least 80 pages maybe more.

She opened it up to see what edition it was. But when she opened it, she realized it wasn't a book at all. It was more of a box disguised as a book. And it had to have been magiked in some way to appear deeper than it really was on the outside. She glanced at the door to the bathroom, she could still hear the water running. She shouldn't snoop, but she was intrigued. She walked closer to the lamp so she could see better.

There were a couple of pictures and some letters. She could tell a couple of them were from his mother and another one from his mother's sister Andromeda. She didn't think they were close, ever. She started to look through the pictures. There were a couple of Draco and Blaise as little kids with gaps in their teeth and goofy smiles. There was one of Narcissa holding a baby. She could only guess that it was Draco. One was of Draco as a little boy, no older than three or four with a puppy that looked only a few months old. She never knew Draco to look so happy and carefree.

She looked through a couple other pictures until she got to the bottom of the box. Where one picture lay glaring at her. She picked it up and stared at it. It was her. Just her sitting on a patch of grass on a rare sunny day reading a book. She could tell it was somewhere on Hogwarts grounds. She looked relaxed and completely engrossed in whatever she was reading, completely oblivious to her surroundings or the fact that someone had taken her picture. And it wasn't a recent picture either. It had to have been taken either 4th or 5th year. Sometime after her awkward teenage years, when she was becoming more confident in her appearances and everything else.

Did Draco take this picture? Why would he have it? She could understand if it was taken sometime during 7th year when they were dating. But 4th year? Back when he was probably the cruelest to her.

Almost a second too late she realized the water had shut off. She quickly put everything back in the box in the order that she took it out. She was putting the faux book back in place when Draco walked back into the bedroom in nothing but a towel around his waist. Damn him for looking so good.

He was purposely torturing her so she would cave to his advances and forget about the whole Gwen disaster. Well she was going to prove him wrong and not cave in.

"I thought you were going to change?" He asked towel drying his hair.

"I got distracted by your book collection. And besides I wanted to shower too before bed."

"You could've joined me" He teased.

She slid him a look and hightailed it to the loo before he dropped the towel in front of her.

She had the night shirt he loaned her, but she had no clean knickers, she could either go without…which was risky, or put on her old one back on after doing a quick scourgify spell on them. Decisions, decisions.

She turned the water on in the shower and stepped under the spray. Her mind kept going back to that picture. Was what Pansy said really true? Had Draco fancied her even back then? If he did, why be so cruel to her? Okay well she partly knew why, because of his father.

She quickly washed her hair and soaped up her body, then turned the water off. Grabbing a towel she dried off and out the night shirt on, thankfully it reached down to her knees. She decided to forgo the knickers. She was going to risk it, which was probably a really stupid decision. But he will never know as long as he stays on his side of the bed.

Finger combing her hair, she did a quick cleansing spell on her teeth, since she didn't have a tooth brush either. Then walked back out into the bedroom. Draco of course was already in bed reading what looked like the Daily Prophet. He had the lights turned down low and the fireplace lit on full blast. The storm outside was still going at it at full force. She could see his naked torso peeking out from under the sheets. She prayed to Merlin that he was wearing boxers or something under those sheets.

He looked up as she approached the bed. Suddenly becoming shy she didn't make eye contact and pulled down the covers on her side and slipped in. This was the first time sleeping in the same bed with him since they had sex two nights ago. She rolled on her side facing away from him.

"Goodnight." She told him, she could feel him looking at her.

"Goodnight." He said sounding amused.

She felt the bed dip as he moved to put the paper down on the nightstand and turned off the lights. Leaving the fire smoldering and the storm outside raging on.

Draco tried to act natural as Hermione showered. He truly meant it when he said he never allowed anyone in his room before. Not that he had anything to hide, because he didn't. But he liked his own space. And letting her into his space was a big deal, even if she didn't realize it. But he was getting used to the idea of her being around and being in the same space as her. Other than being a bed hog, she wasn't messy, and she always smelled good, which were two pluses, plus she wasn't hard on the eyes.

He about had a heart attack when he saw her walk out of the bathroom, her hair wet and wearing one of his shirts. It took just about everything in him not to reach over and grab her so she at least lay next to him. But he didn't, because he knew she would fight him off. He decided he would be good and not persuade her. So he said goodnight and turned off the light. Eventually sleep overtook him.

Hermione had no idea what time it was. No matter what position she laid she just couldn't get comfortable. She gave up on sleep and rolled over so she laid on her back and stared up at the ceiling of Draco's bedroom. She glanced over at him and sure enough he was sound asleep laying on his back, one arm tucked under his pillow the other rested across his bare torso. His head turned away from her.

She watched him sleep for a few minutes until her stomach started rumbling. The reason why she couldn't sleep was because she was starving. She debated on what to do. She couldn't sleep on an empty stomach. And there was no way she was going to sneak down into the kitchen. First she had no idea where the kitchen was and second she didn't want to be exploring the hall of Malfoy manor alone in the middle of the night.

She didn't want to conjure up food, because it never tasted good. It might have looked delicious but it tasted like chalk no matter what you decided to make. And besides after living off something like that for a year she would be happy if she never had to eat like that again.

Not being able to take it much longer she decided to call on Ziggy. She quietly got out of bed and tiptoed her way to the bathroom. Once in there she called upon Ziggy. And nothing happened. She tried a couple more times, her hunger becoming more urgent. Wait, damn she forgot about Draco's ward, no one was allowed in unless he gave permission.

Damn it she was going crazy with hunger. She walked back into the bedroom. She crawled back into bed and sat on her knees facing Draco. She scooted a little closer so she could nudge him. Her stomach gave a loud rumble.

"Okay little guy I'll feed you in a second." She whispered rubbing her tummy.

She got close enough to nudge his arm. "Draco." She whispered and nothing happened.

She tried again nudging him a little harder. "Draco." He shifted a little, but didn't wake.

She scooted closer. "Draco." She said again shaking a little harder.

"Mmm."

"I need to ask you something." She told him.

"What is it baby?" He mumbled in his sleep, but didn't open his eyes.

She was taken aback for a second. "Um…I need…eek."

He shifted again and pulled her on top of him so she was straddling his hips. His shirt that she had on was riding up higher than she would have liked. His hands were on her bare thighs and traveling up to dangerous areas.

"Okay but you get to be on top this time." He mumbled.

Wait, did her think she was wanting to have sex with him? "No Draco that's not what I was implying."

She punched his shoulder, not hard, but hard enough to get his attention.

His eyes flew open and he looked at her. "No?"

She glared at him. "No."

He huffed out a sigh. "Okay then why did you wake me up?" he asked rubbing his eyes.

"Because I'm hungry."

"Hungry?" He looked at her his eyes traveling down to her legs which were still straddling him.

She scampered off him and onto her side of the bed. "Yes I'm starving. So much that I can't sleep. And I don't want to go down to the kitchen by myself. I tried calling Ziggy, but because of your wards she didn't come." To prove her point her stomach growled loudly.

He chuckled and sat up in bed. "Okay what do you want to eat?"

"A T-bone steak and mash potatoes with gravy, lots of gravy."

He smirked. "You obviously thought this through." He teased.

"Will you just call her, please."

He called Ziggy who popped into the room seconds later. Within minutes her meal appeared in front of her on a tray. Her mouth watered just looking at it. Without thinking she started to tuck in. Her first bite was pure heaven and she moaned in pleasure. Draco laid down on his side, his head propped up on his hand as he watched her. She continued eating, but felt his eyes on her.

She glanced over. "What?"

He just smirked at her.

Lamely she glanced down at herself to make sure she didn't have gravy all over herself. Then she glanced back at him.

"Did you want some?" she looked back at her half eaten steak and what was left of her mash potatoes.

He shook his head. "But if you continue to make those noises I won't be accountable for my actions."

She glared at him. "Are you seriously getting turned on my watching me eat?"

"No, it's the sounds you make. It's the same sound you make when you're about to com.."

"Okay I get it. And I'm not making those kind of noises." She blushed.

He snorted. "Whatever you say."

She glared at him again and then went back to eating, trying really hard to not make any sounds while she ate. When she finished she sat back and patted her belly. That was probably one of the best meals she has had in a long time. She could almost eat another T-bone steak, almost.

The tray disappeared and she got up to use the loo. When she got back Draco was already laying down with his eyes closed. She slipped back into bed, full and satisfied, she could finally go to sleep. She laid down on her side and was immediately pulled back against a hard chest.

"Draco." She warned.

"Shh, relax. I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to sleep like this right now." His hand splayed protectively across her tummy.

But then his lips rubbed against the back of her neck as he nuzzled her hair. "If you don't stop that, you're sleeping on your side of the bed for the rest of the night." She halfheartedly warned.

He chuckled. "Don't lie, you know you like it." He mumbled against her skin and pulled her closer to his body.

The bad part was that she did like it, a lot. Damn she should have put on her old knickers after all.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the long wait. I promise I am continuing this story. Thank you for everyone who has stuck with me.<strong>


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